Digital Marketing Notes

Digital
Marketing
Notes
2
INDEX
1. Search Engines and Basics

 How Search Engines works?
 Website
 Keyword
 Keyword Density
 Keywords Research and Analysis
 Google Sandbox effect
 Page Rank
2. On Page Optimization
 Meta Tag Optimization
 Title tag
 Description tag
 Keywords tag
 Image optimization
 Alt/Title Tag
 Creating/uploading Robots file
 Creating/uploading XML Sitemap
 Creating/uploading HTML Sitemap
 Creating/uploading Google webmaster code
 Creating/uploading Google Analytics code
 SEO content optimization
 URL renaming and re-writing
 Anchor Text
 Heading tag
 Bold & Italic Tag
 Footer links
 Website Architecture
 Essentials of good website designing
 Header and footer
 404 Error Redirects
 301 redirection
 How to register Site?
 Hosting of site?
 Traffic and analysis reports
 Competitor analysis
 Pre/post-website analysis
 Traffic/ Google analytic report
 Alexa report
 Some Common SEO tools & plug-ins
SCHOOL OF DIGITAL MARKETING........go digital

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3. Advanced SEO Course Content

 Names of the Search Engine Spiders
 Website Navigation, Fonts & Colour Combination
 Competitor Analysis
 Google Analytics Cookies
 Email Tracking in Google Analytics
 Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics
 E-commerce Tracking in Google Analytics
 What are Annotations in Google Analytics
 Goals & Funnels in Google Analytics
 Custom Reporting in Google Analytics
 Admin Section in Google Analytics
 What is Google Panda
 What is Google Penguin
 Google Webmaster
 URL Remover
 Query Deserve Freshness
 Keyword Effective Indexing
 Latent Symantec Indexing
 HTAccess Files and their Importance
 Canonical Links
 What are Sitelinks
 What is Keyword Mapping
 What is Alexa Ranking and how much Important it is
 Types of URL’s and their Benefits
 Search engines submissions
 Major SEO Tool
4. Off-Page Optimization
 Search engines submissions
 Local business directory submission
 Directory Submission
 Blog Submission/Article Submission
 Social book-marking
 Free Classifieds
 Press Releases submission
 Video optimization and Submission
 Promoting Subsequent pages of the website

Search
Engine
Optimization
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SEARCH ENGINES AND ITS BASICS

A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on
the World Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results
often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a
specialist in web pages, images, information and other types of files. Some search
engines also mine data available in databases or open directories. Unlike web
directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search engines also maintain
real-time information by running an algorithm on a web crawler.
List of Major Search Engines
Google
Yahoo
Bing/MSN
Spider
A search engine spider is a program that a search engine uses to seek out information on
web in an automated manner. Spider also known as a bot, robot, or crawler. It follows
links throughout the Internet, grabbing content from sites and adding it to search
engine databases.
Crawling
Crawling is the process in which the crawler, bot, or spider which finds the documents
on the World Wide Web.
Web crawling is how the web spiders find documents on the web. The web spider
typically starts crawling with the help of URL’s from the popular websites like Yahoo,
MSN, etc, extracting the outgoing URL’S and crawls them. The spider crawls through the
documents and run them through a spam and duplicates content filter placing then in
the web index.
Indexing
Indexing is the process of recording information for easy and quick retrieval upon a
search query.
Indexing is the second major step a search engine takes to deliver information to your
fingertips. A search engine must maintain a copy of all the content it finds during the
crawl process, and store it in an index for easy retrieval. Without an index a search
engine would have to re-run the crawl process for every search query performed. How
exactly a search engine’s web index is designed and maintained is fairly complex and as
an SEO it is beyond the need to know all the technical details.
As SEO’s we spend most of our time figuring out the Ranking part of the process, but the
basics of indexing should be known and understood.
Cache Date
It’s the Date and time left by the spider when it has crawled the particular page of your
website.

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What is Website?
A website is a set of related web pages which are served from a single web domain and
is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet
through an Internet address known as a Uniform resource locator(URL).A webpage is a
page with formatting instructions of Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML, XHTML).
What is Keyword?
Keyword research is considered an important aspect in the search marketing field.
Ranking for the "right" keywords is the main factor for your website. While analyzing
your market's keyword demand, you not only learn which terms and phrases to target
with SEO, but also learn more about your customers as a whole.
What is Keyword Density?

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page
compared to the total number of words on the page. In the context of search engine
optimization keyword density can be used as a factor in determining whether a web
page is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase. Many SEO experts consider
the optimum keyword density to be 1 to 3 percent. Using a keyword more than that
could be considered search spam.
Keywords Research and Analysis

Keyword research is considered as one of the most important aspect, valuable, and high
return activities in the search marketing field.
Keyword research is the first step of analysis that any SEO practitioner should work
upon in a search engine optimization (SEO) project. It’s an extremely important
component in the overall analysis since it is from the keyword research that we
determine the optimum keywords to rank for.
You really need to study the website wholly which you are optimizing for and its
business competitors to get a feel of the industry and get an idea once you complete the
keyword research.
You need to understand the audience you will be marketing to and the relevancy of
these keywords to that audience. There are also other subtle differences such as
whether your business markets to the consumer or to other businesses.
Google Sandbox effect

Whenever you make new website and make it live, the website would not appear in
Google Search immediately. It may take up to 2 – 3 weeks or also a month’s time to
show in search results. Why So?? Reason being, whenever search engines see a new
registered website they don’t index or save the pages immediately. Search Engines will
check many factors like the Quality of the Website, links, content. Basically Google takes
time to examine your website until it gets mature enough to be allowed to the Top
Positions club. Many SEO experts have seen in practice that new sites, no matter how
well optimized, don’t rank high on Google, while on MSN and Yahoo they catch quickly.
So it’s simple. It’s never easy for newcomers to enter a market and there are obstacles of
different kinds. For newcomers to the world of search engines, the obstacle is called a
sandbox.

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Page Rank
Page Rank is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine
results. Page Rank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages.
According to Google:
“Page Rank works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a
rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more
important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites.”
Page Rank is a link analysis algorithm and it assigns a numerical weighting to each
element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the
purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be
applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The
numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is referred to as the Page Rank
of E and denoted by
A hyperlink to a page counts as a vote of support.

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ON PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Meta tag optimization:
Meta description tags, while not important to search engine rankings, are extremely
important in gaining user click-through from SERPs. These short paragraphs are a
webmaster’s opportunity to advertise content to searchers and to let them know exactly
whether the given page contains the information they're looking for.
Meta Title Tag
Meta Title Tag:
Title tags—technically called title elements—define the title of a document. Title tags
are often used on search engine results pages (SERPs) to display preview snippets for a
given page, and are important both for SEO and social sharing.
The title element of a web page is meant to be an accurate and concise description of a
page's content. This element is critical to both user experience and search engine
optimization. It creates value in three specific areas: relevancy, browsing, and in the
search engine results pages.
Code Sample
<head>
<title>Example Title</title>
</head>
Optimal Format
Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name
Optimal Length for Search Engines
Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters (75 characters with space) of a
title tag, or as many characters as will fit into a 512-pixel display.
You can expect at least 95% of your titles to display properly. Keep in mind that search
engines may choose to display a different title than what you provide in your HTML.
Titles in search results may be rewritten to match your brand, the user query, or other
considerations.

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Meta Description Tag:
The Meta description should employ the keywords intelligently, but also create a
compelling description that a searcher will want to click. Direct relevance to the page
and uniqueness between each page’s Meta descriptions is key. The description should
optimally be between 160-170 characters.
Keyword tag
Image optimization:
Alt Text (Alternative Text):
When you see a picture of a baby crying, you instantly recognize what’s going on in the
picture.
The problem is, this instant recognition isn’t possible for search engine spiders at this
time. Instead, you must help the spiders understand each of your images with alt text.
What is image alt text?

The short answer is, it’s the text that the search engine uses to understand images.
To include it, you simply add alt="this is your alt text" to your image tag. Here’s an
example:
<img src="baby-crying.jpg" alt="Baby Crying" />
File Size:
You know page load times matter for SEO
So, to ensure that your images don’t get slow down your fast load times, make the image
file size as small as possible (without sacrificing quality, of course).
When you have a large image, and input height and width tags on that image to make
the image smaller, people load the large image first, and then the browser resizes it.
To solve it, always use an image editing program to make your image a desired size, and
upload that.
File Name:
Before you upload your image, pick a descriptive filename—preferably a file name you
want that image to rank for—because it will help with your search engine rankings.
For example, if you want to see this in action, just do a sample search and view the
images that rank. They almost always have the keyword you searched for in their file
name.

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Or, see the image below… here with Word Press SEO.
Captions:
As of right now, there’s no direct relation between image captions and search engine
rankings.
However, bounce rates are taken into account.
What do I mean by bounce rate?
If someone searches for a term, clicks on your page, and bounces back to the search
page quickly, search engines use that as a factor for rankings.
It makes sense too… Why would someone go back to the search results?
Because the content they clicked on didn’t satisfy what they were looking for.
And that’s where image captions come in.
Next to your headline, image captions are important because they are one of the most
well-read pieces of content on your entire site.
So, if you fail to use them, you’re losing out on one more chance to lower your bounce
rate.
Creating /uploading robots file:
 The robots.txt file, a product of the Robots Exclusion Protocol, is a file stored on a
website's root directory (e.g., www.google.com/robots.txt).
 The robots.txt file gives instructions to automated web crawlers visiting your site,
including search spiders.
 By using robots.txt, webmasters can indicate to search engines which areas of a

site they would like to disallow bots from crawling as well as indicate the
locations of sitemap files and crawl-delay parameters.
 To hide date, confidential data which we don’t want to show/crawl – for tht
Robots.txt is used.

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e.g. - Bank-Login id, password etc
 File name should be Robot.txt
 Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to
web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol.
 The following commands are available:

Disallow- Prevents compliant robots from accessing specific pages or folders.
Sitemap- Indicates the location of a website’s sitemap or sitemaps.
Crawl Delay- Indicates the speed (in milliseconds) at which a robot can crawl a
server.
An Example of Robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
The "User-agent: *" means this section applies to all robots. The"Disallow: /" tells the
robot that it should not visit any pages on the site.
Creating /uploading XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) file:
There are two popular versions of a site map. An XML Sitemap is a structured format
that a user doesn't need to see, but it tells the search engine about the pages in a site,
their relative importance to each other, and how often they are updated. HTML
sitemaps are designed for the user to help them find content on the page, and don't need
to include each and every subpage. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages
on the site.
While some developers argue that site index is a more appropriately used term to relay
page function, web visitors are used to seeing each term and generally associate both as
one and the same. However, a site index is often used to mean an A-Z index that
provides access to particular content, while a site map provides a general top-down
view of the overall site contents.
XML is a document structure and encoding standard used, amongst many other things,
as the standard for web crawlers to find and parse sitemaps. There is an example of an
XML sitemap below (missing link to site). The instructions to the sitemap are given to
the crawler bot by a Robots, an example of this is also given below. Site maps can
improve search engine optimization of a site by making sure that all the pages can be
found. This is especially important if a site uses a dynamic access to content such
as Adobe Flash or JavaScript menus that do not include HTML links.

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They also act as a navigation aid by providing an overview of a site's content at a single
glance.
Benefits of XML sitemaps to search-optimize Flash sites
Below is an example of a validated XML sitemap for a simple three page web site.
Sitemaps are a useful tool for making sites built in Flash and other non-html languages
searchable. If a website's navigation is built with Flash, an automated search program
would probably only find the initial homepage; subsequent pages are unlikely to be
found without an XML sitemap.
XML sitemap example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<URLset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<URL>
<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=who</loc>
<lastmod>2009-09-22</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</URL>
<URL>
<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=what</loc>
</URL>
<URL>
<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=how</loc>
</URL>
</URLset>
XML Sitemaps
Google introduced Google Sitemaps so web developers can publish lists of links from
across their sites. The basic premise is that some sites have a large number of dynamic
pages that are only available through the use of forms and user entries. The Sitemap file
contains URLs to these pages so that web crawlers can find
them. Bing, Google, Yahoo and Ask now jointly support the Sitemaps protocol.
Since Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and Google use the same protocol, having a Sitemap lets the four
biggest search engines have the updated page information. Sitemaps do not guarantee
all links will be crawled, and being crawled does not guarantee indexing. However, a
Sitemap is still the best insurance for getting a search engine to learn about your entire
site. Google Webmaster Tools allow a website owner to upload a sitemap that Google
will crawl, or he can accomplish the same thing with the robots.txt file.

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XML Sitemaps have replaced the older method of "submitting to search engines" by
filling out a form on the search engine's submission page. Now web developers submit a
Sitemap directly, or wait for search engines to find it.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is much more precise than HTML coding. Errors are
not tolerated, and so syntax must be exact. It is advised to use an XML syntax validator
such as the free one found at: http://validator.w3.org
There are automated XML site map generators available (both as software and web
applications) for more complex sites.
Steps to generate XML site map generator:
 Enter your full website URL and some optional parameters in the form below.
 Press 'Start' button and wait until the site is completely crawled.
 You will be redirected to the generated sitemap details page, including number
of pages, broken links list, XML file content and link to a sitemap file. Download
the sitemap file using that link and put it into the domain root folder of your site.
 Go to your Google Webmaster account and add your sitemap URL.
Creating /uploading HTML (hyper text mark-up language) file:
Html site-map is overall view of your pages of your websites.

It content list of all available pages on websites with proper category.
When any sites has more than 100-200 pages & you’re not able find any page then you
can visits site-map pages & search for required pages.
Html site map are designed by website developer for visitor of sites.
Creating /uploading Google webmaster/analytics code:
Webmaster code:
To verify that you own a site, you have a number of options:
 Add a Meta tag to your home page (proving that you have access to the source
files). To use this method, you must be able to edit the HTML code of your site's
pages.
 Upload an HTML file with the name you specify to your server. To use this
method, you must be able to upload new files to your server.
 Verify via your domain name provider. To use this method, you must be able to
sign in to your domain name provider (for example, GoDaddy.com or
networksolutions.com) or hosting provider and add a new DNS record.
 Add the Google Analytics code you use to track your site. To use this option, you
must be an administrator on the Google Analytics account, and the tracking code
must use the new asynchronous snippet.
Webmaster Tools will check to see that the specified tag, file, record, or code is present.
If it is, we consider you a site owner and will show you site details.

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If you access Webmaster Tools via a web hoster, your site is already verified, and all
your information is already available to you.
If you created a new site using Google Sites, that site will now appear verified in
Webmaster Tools. (Your site must be created using the same Google Account you use
for Webmaster Tools.) If your site doesn't appear on the Webmaster Tools home page,
click Add a site. Your site will be added and automatically verified. However, older sites
are not automatically verified, and should be verified using the Meta tag method.
Analytics code:
Why Install Google Analytics?
Knowing things like where your website visitors are coming from, how they found you,
what content they viewed, and how long they stayed on parts of your site can provide
you with infinite insight into your buyer personas and provide countless data-backed
optimization opportunities.
Combine this information with a closed-loop analytics platform that connects data on
site visitor behaviour with lead intelligence and customer data and you, my friend, are
in prime position to take your marketing effectiveness to the next level. And who
doesn’t want that?
Access Your Google Analytics Tracking Code
Once you’re sure you will be able to make edits to your website, we can move on to
securing the appropriate Google Analytics tracking code. Log into your Google Analytics
account and click ‘Admin’ in the upper right hand side of the page. Select the
appropriate Account and Property and then click ‘Tracking Info’ in the middle column
labelled ‘Property’.
Click ‘Tracking Code’ under ‘Tracking Info’ to access the website tracking code you’ll
need to install on your website. On this page, you’ll see a box with multiple lines of code.
Be sure to copy the entire tracking code, beginning with <script> all the way through to
</script>.
Note: Some CMSs have certain themes that include a built-in Google Analytics plug-in.
These plug-in only require you to enter in your Google Analytics Tracking ID to
complete analytics setup. If this is the case, you only need to copy the Tracking ID
beginning with ‘UA-’ located at the top of the page. Each Google Analytics property
created in your account will be assigned a unique Tracking ID. Make sure to use the
appropriate Tracking ID or code for each domain.
Add Tracking Code in the Right Place
With your tracking code in hand, you’re ready to install!
Log into your CMS and access your site’s HTML code. The script must be placed at the
top of your website page, immediately before the </head> tag that appears on each
page you want to track. As I mentioned earlier, some CMSs, including Hub Spot, have a
separate section where you can easily add either your tracking code or tracking ID.
Make sure you look into your CMSs setup to ensure proper installation.

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And we’re off to the (Tracking) Races!
Basic analytics tracking is now installed on your website. You’ll notice that most of the
reports under ‘Standard Reporting’ in Google Analytics will be delayed in populating
data (up to 24 hours), but you can check the ‘Real Time’ tracking section in your Google
Analytics account to start seeing data immediately.
Be sure to verify your installation is properly set up by revisiting the Tracking Code
section -- located at Admin >> Tracking Info >> Tracking Code -- a few hours after you
install the code. You’ll see a section labelled ‘Tracking Status Information’ at the top of
the page. You want the status to read ‘Tracking Installed,’ which tells us the code is
working as designed and data is being pulling into Google Analytics accurately. If the
status reads ‘Waiting for Data,’ Google Analytics has found the tracking code on your
homepage and is still working to gather the data into reports. In short, just give it some
more time.
If the status is ‘Tracking Not Installed’ or ‘Not Verified,’ follow Google’s

recommendations to troubleshoot the problem to ensure proper installation.
Knowing what visitors are doing on your website is essential to making smart, data-
driven marketing decisions. With Google Analytics, you can begin to understand how
people are navigating your website and respond appropriately to the story the data is
telling you

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URL renaming and re-writing
Anchor text
Anchor text is the visible characters and words that hyperlinks display when linking to
another document or location on the web.
For example:
In the phrase "CNN is a good source of news, but I actually prefer the BBC's take on
events," two unique pieces of anchor text exist for two different links: "CNN" is the anchor
text pointing to http://www.cnn.com/, while “the BBC's take on events” points to
http://news.bbc.co.uk.
Search engines use this text to help determine the subject matter of the linked-to
document.
In the example above, "Jon Wye's Custom Designed Belts" would be the anchor text of
this link.
Key Points:
If many links point to a page with the right keywords in their anchor text, that page has
a very good chance of ranking well. Real examples of this include the search engine
result pages for the queries, "click here" and "leave." Many of the Google results for
these queries rank solely due to the anchor text of inbound links.
 People have a tendency to link to content using the anchor text of either the
domain name or the title of the page. This is an advantage to SEOs who include
keywords they want to rank for in these two elements.
 Too many inbound links to a page with the exact same keyword-rich anchor text
may cause Google to scrutinize that site’s link profile more closely; using
manipulative methods to acquire keyword–rich anchor text is not recommended.

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What is 404 error and redirection:-
 The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating
that the client was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not
find what was requested.
 When the visitor cannot communicate with the server. Visitor gets a standardized
undesirable 404 Error Page
 This is a very common error on the web and it occurs when you are trying to visit a
page which has either been deleted or has been moved somewhere else.
 For example, if you change the structure of your website and move a certain
directory to a different part of your site, anyone trying to visit the old page URL will
get a 404 error message.
 A 404 error means "not found". This is usually the page you get when you make a
mistake spelling page name in a site, or if the page is deleted or moved. The
problem is that the standard 404 page is ugly and unhelpful.
 Made that custom page a redirect to the home page, so that any links (and PR)
pointing to pages that have been deleted (or misspelled) will be passed on to the
website
301 Error and redirection:-
 HTTP response status code 301 Moved permanently- is used for permanent
redirection
 301 is used for redirecting traffic permanently - For address change information
 301 is used for redirecting traffic permanently -From one domain to another
domain
 301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage
redirection.
 You're merging two websites and want to make sure that links to outdated URLs
are redirected to the correct pages.
 It's not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine
rankings for that particular page.
 If you have to change file names or move pages around, it's the safest option. The
code "301" is interpreted as "moved permanently"

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 This is the best way to ensure that users and search engines are directed to the
correct page. The 301 status code means that a page has permanently moved to a
new location.
 Creating 301 redirects for your old content to point to the new content will tell
the search engines that you have moved from A to B for good. This will allow
search engines to direct ranking and value signals to the new URL because they
understand this location to be the new, permanent home for that content.
302 Error and redirection
 Status 302 means that the resource is temporarily located somewhere else, and
the client/browser should continue requesting the original URL.
 A 302 status code means Found, or more commonly referred to as “temporarily

moved.”
 What it does do is get the user to an appropriate location for you so that you
aren’t showing them a broken link, a 404 page not found, or an error page.
 A good example of when to do a 302 redirect would be in an e-commerce setting.
 Let’s say you have a product that you no longer have for sale– maybe the product
is seasonal, out of stock, or is something that you might sell again. In this case, you
might want to use a 302 redirect to send the user to the category page. If the
product outage is going to be for any real length of time it might not make sense
to send the user to a page that they cannot order from, so you redirect them to the
category page allowing them to look at similar items. And with that 302 you are
telling the search engine crawlers that your content is just offline temporarily and
they should keep the value of that page intact and not pass it to another URL.
301 Redirection 302 Redirection
Permanent Redirection Temporary Redirection
 404 - Responds with an error, but shows a custom page to help your visitors
 302 - If the page is missing, it's replaced with a temporary redirect to a custom
error page
 301 - Redirects errors to either a custom error page, or some other page in the site
(i.e. sitemap, homepage or best guess)
What is Domain?
 A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website. For example, the
domain name of the Tech Terms Computer Dictionary is "techterms.com." Each

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website has a domain name that serves as an address, which is used to access the
website.
 Whenever you visit a website, the domain name appears in the address bar of the
web browser.
 Domain names are relatively cheap to register, though they must be renewed
every year or every few years.
 The good news is that anyone can register a domain name, so you can purchase a
unique domain name for your blog or website. The bad news is that nearly all
domain names with common words have already been registered. Therefore, if
you want to register a custom domain name, you may need to think of a creative
variation. Once you decide on a domain name and register it, the name is yours
until you stop renewing it. When the renewal period expires, the domain name
becomes available for others to purchase.
What is hosting?
 Hosting is like renting an office. You can do it yourself out of your garage, or you can
pay for better facilities with all the essential plumbing and security features. For an
office this would mean renting at a business centre. For your website this means
paying for space on a highly specialized computer server within a dedicated hosting
facility.
 Web Hosting is the service providing space on the Internet for websites.
 Just like an office directory listing, your website has a physical address that maps
the exact location of the website within a hosted server. These physical
addresses have their own 411 or yellow pages directory which is called Domain
Name System (DNS).
 Once a website is completely developed these pages have to be connected to the

internet. So that when a user types www.domain.com the pages which was
developed is shown to the users.
 Web hosting actually involves two steps that is booking a domain name and
buying a web space:
 We buy the web space to host the website which was developed; we call it as
hosting on the server. To host on to a server we need service providers who
actually provide this service at the cost defined by them.
 www.domainame.com is called a domain, which is nothing but an address. Every
hosting should contain at least a domain name. But Web hosting is the place
where your pages actually reside.

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Difference between Hosting & Domain
Domain Web hosting
A text name (e.g. Domainmonster.com) Web hosting is the provision of space

which provides a more humanly on Internet servers for storing web
memorable name to stand in for a numeric pages, content and databases. These
IP address." can then be accessed by others via the
Internet
Your domain name is a way for people to Web hosting is the place, typically on a
access your website server, where you store all the text,
script, images, videos and other
information that help create your
website
Your domain name is the name of your site In order for your website to appear on
or your URL (www.mynewcompany.com) the Internet, the files need to be
& can be purchased by going to a domain uploaded to a server. These can be
name registrar. “hosted” at a hosting company.
House=Hosting, Address= Domain, Name Furniture= Files
1) How to Register Your Own Domain Name-Free
2) Name few hosting /domain companies

a) register.com
b) domainpeople.com
c) doteasy.com
d) godaddy.com
e) gandi.net
f) bluehost.com
g) dreamhost.com
h) mediatemple.net
i) retrix.net
j) blacksun.ca
k) webnames.ca
l) Name cheap
m) Network Solutions

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3) What are different domain extensions?

Extensions are categories of Internet domain names. There are several of them to
choose from:
Name Entity Description
.com Commercial Represents the word "commercial," and is the most widely used
extension in the world. Most businesses prefer a .com domain
name because it is a highly recognized symbol for having a
business presence on the Internet
Represents the word "organization," and is primarily used by

.org Organization non-profits groups or trade associations.
Represents the word "network," and is most commonly used by

.net Network Internet service providers, Web-hosting companies or other
businesses that are directly involved in the infrastructure of the
Internet. Additionally, some businesses choose domain names
with a .net extension for their intranet Websites.
.int international
organizations
.edu Educational
.gov governmental
used for small business Web sites

.biz Business
For credible resource Web sites and signifies a "resource" web

.info site. It's the most popular extension beyond .com, .net and .org.
(Short for "mobile") is reserved for Web sites built for easy
.mobi Mobile viewing on mobile devices.
Factors affecting a website's Google placement
 Google’s Sandbox is not an exact science, so the exact factors which affect a
website’s placement in Google are not known. However, there are many proven
tactics which can affect the placement of a website which are listed below.
 It is possible that someone else spammed people under your domain. This can
occur when a domain expires for a short period of time and during that time
another person takes over that domain and puts up a spam site.

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 Has someone stolen the content from your website? If they have than it is likely
it has been published on numerous other websites. And as many people know
duplicate content and copyright infringement is not good for websites.
 Has your server been down or been having problems? Google might have come
to index your website when your site was down causing their spiders to not find
any content. This means that the most recent index of your site will not show
anything.
 Do you keep up with Google’s algorithm? If not, it is possible that Google has
changed its algorithm factors and your website no longer meets Google’s
placement factors.
 Do you have any bad links on your website? Having broken links on your site
could greatly affect your Google ranking. If you linked to a website a long time
ago it is good practice to check back and make sure the site is still legit (and not a
spam site) because linking to a bad site can also affect your Google ranking.
 Is your domain brand new? It is best to buy an old or expired domain, but if that
is not possible it is good to make a domain active for some time before you
intend to build your new website.
 It is thought that sites which go after the more competitive and popular
keywords are more likely to get placed in the Sandbox. To avoid this, start a new
website by going after less competitive keywords and work your way up with
time.
Alexa Ranking
Overall Ranking in the world- we can check this on http://www.alexa.com/
 This is a ranking system set by alexa.com (a subsidiary of amazon.com) that

basically audits and makes public the frequency of visits on various Web sites.
 In simple terms, Alexa Traffic Rank is a rough measure of a website's popularity,

compared with all the others out there on the internet, taking into account both
the number of visitors and the number of pages viewed on each visit.
 The algorithm according to which Alexa traffic ranking is calculated, is simple. It

is based on the amount of traffic recorded from users that have the Alexa toolbar
installed over a period of three months.
 This traffic is based on such parameters as reach and page views. The reach
refers to the number of Alexa users who visit a particular site in one day. Page
view, as its name shows, is the number of times a particular page (URL) is viewed
by Alexa users.
 Alexa.com makes it clear though that, if a particular user visits the same URL
multiple times on the same day, all those visits will be counted as one.
 The first step of the ranking process is calculating the reach and number of page
views for all the sites on the Web on a daily basis.
 The Alexa ranking is obtained by performing the geometric mean of reach and
page views, averaged over a predefined period of time (three months

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ADVANCED SEO COURSE CONTENT

Names of search engine spiders
Spider Name Search Engine Status

AbachoBOT Abacho -
Acoon Acoon -
AESOP_com_SpiderMan Aesop -
ah-ha.com crawler Ah-ha -
Appie Walhello -
Arachnoidea Euroseek active
Atomz Atomz -
DeepIndex DeepIndex (www.en.deepindex.com) -
ESISmartSpider Ttravel Finder -
EZResult EZResults -
FAST-WebCrawler AlltheWeb active
Fido PlanetSearch -
Fluffy the spider SearchHippo active
Googlebot Google active
Gigabot Gigablast active
Gulper Yuntis active
HenryTheMiragoRobot Mirago -
ia_archiver Alexa active
KIT-Fireball/2.0 Fireball (German SE at www.fireball.de) -
LNSpiderguy Lexis-Nexis -
MSN Microsoft Prototype Crawler active
NationalDirectory- National Directory -
SuperSpider
Nazilla Websmostlinked -
Openbot Openfind -
Openfind piranha,Shark Openfind -
Scooter AltaVista active
Scrubby Scrub The Web active
Teoma_agent1 Teoma active
UK Searcher Spider UKSearcher -
WebCrawler WebCrawler -
ZyBorg Wisenut
Google analytics cookies
Google Analytics can set up to 5 first party cookies:
1. _utma (unique visitor cookie)

2. _utmb (session cookie)
3. _utmz (Campaign cookie)
4. _utmv (visitor segmentation cookie)
5. _utmx (Google Analytics Content Experiment cookie)

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E-mail tracking in Google Analytics
Let’s say the URL, which should be included as link in your newsletter is:
http://www.mydomain.tld/my-page.htm
Google Analytics provides a tool, which build the links for you
In this sample we use:
Campaign Source = Newsletter1
Campaign Medium = Email
Campaign Name = Your Product
The link would be: (don't create the link by hand, always use the Google Analytics URL
Builder)
http://www.mydomain.tld/mypage.htm?utm_source=Newsletter1&utm_medium=Emai
l&utm_campaign=Your%2BProduct
The link contains the additional information, which is required to track the clicks.
This allows you to measure how many people have clicked on a link in your newsletter.
 First select the text (in our sample "hyperlink") and click on the "Add Hyperlink"
icon.
 Now copy the URL from the Google Analytics URL Builder into the URL field.
Now send your newsletter campaign.
You can watch the results of your newsletter in Google Analytics under Content Sources
-> Campaigns.

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Conversion tracking in Google Analytics
How to Set Up and Track Conversion Rates in Google Analytic

If you’re using your website for business, you should track your website conversion
rates. Not only does it tell you what’s working and what isn’t, it also gives you specific
goals to take action on.
For example, you may notice that traffic coming from a blog like DIYthemes converts
higher than another blog. If that’s the case, you can focus on the source that converts.
How do you track conversion rates on your website?
How to set up Google Analytics in Thesis

Before you start tracking conversion rates, you must make sure Google Analytics is set
up and running on your site. Fortunately, this is easy to do with Thesis.
When you sign up for Google Analytics, they’ll give you a tracking code that looks
something like this:
<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." :
"http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js'
type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXXXX-X");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}</script>
When you get your code, not the code above, from your Google Analytics account, you
can paste it into your Stats Software/Scripts box under Thesis > Site Options Menu.

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Paste Analytics Code in Thesis Options

Now, once you have your tracking code installed, we can get to the fun part!
How to Track Newsletter and Product Conversion Rates with Google Analytics
When people subscribe to your newsletter or buy your products, you often send them to
a thank you page. Most newsletter and product delivery services offer default “Thank
You” pages, but I suggest you create your own on your site—one thank you page for
each product / newsletter works best.
Step 1: Set up a “Thank You” Page

How do you create custom “Thank You” pages?
Create a normal WordPress page, and make sure you exclude it from your navigation.
On this page, you can say “Thank You” to your customers for buying or subscribing to
your newsletter. You can also offer bonus downloads or product up-sells here, which is
a great strategy by the way.
After you’ve created your pages, I’ve found that it’s useful to copy the page’s URL and
paste it into a text file so that it’s easily accessible for the following steps.
Step 2: Tie Your “Thank You” Page to Your Newsletter / Sales Provider
Before I start, I have a quick note…
If your newsletter is powered by Feed burner RSS to email, you should get a premium
provider. It’s super valuable because it provides additional stat tracking, and additional
features. (If cost is a problem, use Mail Chimp. They’re free up to 2,000 subscribers).
On to the tracking!

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How to Set Up a “Thank You” Page in Mail Chimp

1. Log into your mail chimp account and go to your lists page.
2. Select the little link that says “forms” under the list you want to track your
newsletter subscribers from.
3. You should now see a drop-down selection box near the upper left with the title
“forms and response emails”. From that drop-down box select “Confirmation “thank
you” page”.
4. In the input text box below that called “Instead of showing this “thank you” page,
send subscribers to another URL”, paste in the URL of the “thank you” page that you
set up.
Step 3: Set Up Goal Tracking in Google Analytics

Setting up goals in Google Analytics is a fairly straightforward process once you know
how to do it. Have no fear!
1. Log into your Google Analytics account and go to the website profile for your site.
2. Click on the “edit” button to the right of your site link.
3. You should now see an area if you scroll down a little called only “goals”. Click on the
first link on the right to “add goal”.
4. Once there, name your goal. I named mine “subscribers”. Under Goal Type, select
“URL Destination”.
5. After that, you should be given more options to input your “thank you” page
information. Under “match type” select “exact match” and input your goal URL as
“/thank-you/” if your whole URL was http://www.mysite.com/thank-you/
6. If you want to track sales, you can additionally input the value of your average sale
too (win!).

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Set up your goals in Google Analytics
You’re all set!

You should start seeing your results coming in around 24 hours after you set up your
goal. Keep in mind that Google Analytics doesn’t track in real-time so you have to be
patient.
Monitor your conversion rates

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E-Commerce tracking in Google Analytics
Ecommerce tracking is available for both web and app properties but must first be
enabled at the view level.
A qualified developer should then complete additional technical set up following the
detailed instructions in the Developer Guide for your specific environment (see below).
No Ecommerce data appears in your reports until you set up Ecommerce tracking.
Enable Ecommerce tracking
1. Click Admin from the menu bar at the top of any screen in Analytics.
2. Use the drop down menus to select the Account, Property, and View.
3. Click View Settings.
4. In the Ecommerce Settings section, click the toggle so it says ON
5. Click Save at the bottom of the page.
What are annotations in Google Analytics?
Annotations let users leave shared or private notes right on the graphs. No more issues
forgetting what caused unusual traffic spikes or behaviour in the past – it's all stored for
you.
 Use Annotations as a logbook for all online marketing and website design actions
within your business.
 Remember which events may have caused conversions or visits to increase or
decrease.
 Keep an uninterrupted record even if you have multiple marketing teams,
agencies or webmasters
Goals and funnels in Google Analytics
With Google Analytics, you can create artificial goals and apply them to your web traffic
to determine the success or failure rate of visitor’s actions. Goals can even put your
mind at ease by tracking the completion of tasks by your visitors. They are abundant
in Analytics and provide exceptional data to look over.

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The process sounds a lot more confusing than it seems, but I’ll be going into much
greater detail in this guide with comprehensive explanation. So if you’re interested to
track and analyze data better in order to make your site more awesome, this is the guide
for you!
1. Clarifying Goals & Funnels
I should start out by defining two very important keywords. Goals are visitor tracking
method which you can set them into different criteria on your website. In general you’ll
be checking the rate at which a visitor completes any goals you setup. As an
example you could set a goal to unlock after a visitor reaches your contact page,
“/contact.html“.
If you have visitors coming to your home page and leaving right away, then they did not
view your contact page. This could be counted as a failed goal marker or simply a gray
area. Visitors who did happen to land onto your contact page will be recorded as
successfully completing the goal. You can check the statistics further such as total time
spent on the page and total pages they visited.
A funnel is actually an optional piece to setting up goals. When you are looking to track
which pages your visitors land on it may be important to also track their path into the
page. These are defined as funnels, as you’re setting up a pathway to track if the visitors
walked the same pathway. Funnels will restrict the amount of completed goals to
only those who follow through the entire pathway.
It is possible to set up multiple funnels for a single goal, but these can build up quite
dramatically and become a confusing mess over time. It’s much simpler to track 1-2
funnels (or none!) for any goal you create. As an example, you may track how many
visitors download a specific .zip file from your home page vs. article page.

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2. Thinking about Great Goals
Hopefully you are clearer on what goals are accomplishing and why you would want to
use them. With that in mind we can now log into Analytics and set up some basic
examples! It’s important to note that Google is still building these features into the
Analytics backend. For that reason the user interface does not let you delete goals once
you create them! You can turn them off, but they’ll always be tied into your profile.
It is crucial for you to spend some time contemplating what you’re looking to track.
Don’t set up goals on a whim of social marketing fever. I’ve constructed some important
concepts to think about in the list below.
 What information is most important for you to track? Is this just for knowledge, or
for potential changes of how your website flows?
 What are you expecting your visitors to do once they reach your website?
 What is considered “successful” to you? Completing a purchase, long periods
viewing your site, newsletter sign-ups, 10+ total page views, etc?
 Could you change anything in your design to influence visitors towards completing
these goals faster/easier?
Now don’t feel trapped that goals will forever be locked up in your Analytics. In fact the
data is quietly tucked away into the portion of your Analytics Dashboard under “Goals”,
and you can always go back to edit your goals and change the criteria. So honestly
you could just set up 1 goal and always change the information for tracking different
data when required.
3. Setting up Goals
To get started log into your Analytics account and find the profile you wish to add
Goals into. If you have multiple accounts you’ll need to first click the parent name
before you can see the profile listing. In the right side of the column under “Actions”
you’ll see links to edit and delete your profile. Click the “Edit” link to open your profile
settings and you can see the column titled “Goals”.

31
Now you just need to select a Set which contains your future Goal. There are a total
of 4 possible sets which each can hold 5 goals respectively. It isn’t required that you
utilize sets in any particular fashion. They are merely ways to separate tracking data
into categories such as checkout system, user profile, and blog views.
For the new version of Google Analytics, all you need do after accessing into the
Analytics is click on the “Gear-like” button located on the top right side of the page
(under the “Sign Out” link), then choose your account and web property, and you are
in the section that contains Goals.
4. Exploring Goal Types

If you’ve clicked to setup a new goal you should notice the form looks fairly
straightforward. You are first prompted to enter a name and select if the goal is Active
(On) or Inactive (Off). The Goal Position (does not exist in the latest version of
Analytics) is set by default to list one after the other, so you can likely ignore that area
entirely.
What are these four items labeled “Goal type” then? Each goal type represents
adifferent style of tracking your completed goals. I’ve gone into details of the four
methods below, but if you want more info I recommend Google Analytics Help on Goal
Types
URL Destination
Most commonly you’ll be using URIs to set up new goals. These goal types simply track
when a user enters a specific page on your website. The URI component is
actually not your full website URL. Even though the Analytics menu uses URL it’s
much easier tracking goals with only an URI component. This basically consists of

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everything after your root domain including the final trailing slash. So instead of
tracking http://www.hongkiat.com/404.html you would enter /404.html as your URL.
You may notice that after selecting this type another sub-class of the form opens up.
You’re now asked to choose a match type for your URI. This determines a few different
ways to match the pages requested as completed goals. There are three options here
which define how Analytics will record a successful goal measurement.
 Exact Match requires the user to enter the page exactly as it’s been typed into
Analytics. This means no extra query strings or question marks or wildcard
characters will be allowed.
 Head Match is a bit looser which targets pages with identical characters starting
from the beginning point with no specific end. In this scenario extra metadata
passed to the URI from web clients such as Gmail, Twitter, or MailChimp will still be
counted as a successful goal completion.
 Regular Expression Match use wildcard terms to select a variety of URL types.
Use this to track much more convoluted data such as all pages within
the /blogs/directory. Google Analytics Help has a great article on using regular
expressions pertaining to Goals.
Time on Site
Instead of checking which pages your visitors are landing on you can instead check
their time limits. Maybe it’s important for you to see if visitors are watching videos or
browsing photo galleries for more than 5 minutes. This could also include visitors who
are reading articles or blog posts.

33
With this goal type you set a length of time in Hours/Minutes/Seconds which Google
Analytics will apply to each visitor. You then select a Condition: Greater than or Less
than the time you put in. In this way you could also check bounce rates seeing how
many visitors will only stay for a couple of seconds before leaving.
Page/Visit
Similarly you can set goals tracking the amount of page views per visitor. The form is
set up in a very similar manner as the goals above. Each individual is tracked for the
amount of pages they view per visit and will only complete your goal if they are above
or below the number you set.
Event
If you want to track a specific action such as a click on the download button for your
icon pack, Event (only exist in latest version of Analytics) is for you. With Event as goal

34
types, there are 4 event conditions for you to set up the goals: Category (e.g.
download), Action (e.g. icon pack, interface pack), Label (e.g. vector, non-vector) and
value (e.g. 10, 20). You can configure one or more event conditions.
Besides, for Event goals you can either use the actual Event Value or a constant
value which requires you to manually enter the value. As this is the new goal type
comes with the latest version of Google Analytics, you can refer to its official guide,
Actually with each of these four types you can set an optional goal value. So either way
Analytics will be tracking the data from your visitors, but if you have an ideal range in
mind (such as 10 pages per visit) you can set this in the Goal Value form. Analytics will
convert the data and display how many completed goals have hit this exact value.
5. Defining Custom Funnels
Once you understand the criteria for creating goals the task becomes much simpler. It’s
even a slightly exhilarating process to try out new goals and goal types among your
website traffic, but now you may wish to consider taking things into the next level by
defining funnels for your goals.

35
It should be noted that funnels will only work with URI goal types. You cannot have
funnels for page views or total time per visit since there isn’t a specific pathway to
follow.
The purpose of defining a funnel system is to create a targeted map for your traffic to
flow through. So in order for a goal to be completed (such as somebody visiting your
contact page) originally the visitor would only need to land on the given URI. However
with a funnel the visitor must enter your page as specified in the Goal Funnel
section for the goal to be counted as complete. Funnels could include more than one
page to follow through as well.
You would use these in a scenario such as checkout of a shopping cart. Your visitors
should follow through the paths in a specific order such as viewing the cart contents,
placing the order, entering shipping details, and finally entering payment details. You
may even track if they land on a final confirmation page after their purchases.
The system for reading URIs is fairly complex. It can take in regex code to determine a
series of pages deemed acceptable for your funnel. You are ultimately limited to 10
funnel steps, but remember the entire process is optional! You could ignore the option
if it isn’t necessarily needed.
6. Purpose of Using Funnelled Goals

Goals are a much more simplified system for webmasters. Those who are getting into
adding funnels are generally looking for much more complicated data patterns. One
such reasoning could be to streamline the process of visiting your website.
Depending on the type of site you may have a set of specific goals in mind. Maybe
you’re trying to get readers signing up for your newsletter or connecting into your site
via Twitter. Both of these tasks offer redirect links which you can send visitors after
they’ve completed the process, but you may wish to see how many visitors are signing
up directly from your home page vs. all other pages.

36
Adding funnels will provide much more purpose if your goals require a set of intended
paths. Additionally if your site is pulling only a few hundred visitors per week the
sample size may be too small to notice any emerging patterns. Stick to using funnels
when you have a purpose for testing the routes your visitors are taking to complete
goals. They can be very rewarding when they’re used properly and provide exceptional
reports to help with UI updates.
Custom Reporting in Google Analytics
About Custom Reports
A custom report is a report that you create. You pick the dimensions (City and Browser,
for example) and metrics (Sessions, Page views, and Bounce Rate, for example) and
decide how they should be displayed. To access your custom reports, click
the Customization tab. Your reports will be listed in the left navigation under Custom
Reports. (If no custom reports have been created, you will only see an entry for Overview
under Custom Reports.)
To create a custom report, click the Customization tab and then click Overview under
Custom Reports in the left navigation. Click + New Custom Report to create a new
report. Read Creating Custom Reports to learn more.
To edit or delete an existing custom report, click the Customization tab and then click
Overview under Custom Reports in the left navigation. You can edit or delete existing
reports from the Overview. Read Managing Custom Reports to learn more.
About Dimensions and Metrics in Custom Reports
To build a custom report, you'll need to specify at least one dimension and one metric.
Dimensions are ways of describing users, sessions, pages, products, and events.
Examples of dimensions include User Type (whether new or returning), Source (the
name of a referring website/search engine ), Page Title (the HTML title of a page on
your site), and Product SKU (the SKU code for a product purchased on your site).
Metrics are the numeric measurements.
For example,
“There were N Page views and N Transactions from new users and N Page views and N
Transactions from returning users." Page views and Transactions are the metrics and
User Type is the dimension.
To create a custom report:

1. On the Customization tab, click Overview in the left navigation.
2. Click + New Custom Report.
3. Enter a name for the report.
4. For Type, select Explorer (a hierarchy of data tables linked by clickable rows) or
flat table (a single table that shows all data).
Explorer
1. Enter a name for the first group of metrics.

37
2. Click + add metric to add each metric. Click + add metric group to add a tab with
another group of metrics.
3. Click + add dimension to add dimensions.
Adding more than one dimension makes it possible for the person viewing the
report to drill down into more specific data.
Flat Table
1. Click + add dimension to add a dimension. Add up to two dimensions.
2. Click +add metric to add a metric. Add up to 25 metrics.
Click Add a filter if you want to limit the report to a subset of data.
a. Select a dimension.
b. Select Include or Exclude.
c. Select the type of match you want: Exact or Regex.
d. Enter the value for your match.
If you want this report to be available in additional views, add them.
Click Save.
Admin section in Google Analytics
The new user permissions you can apply in Analytics let you have more discrete control
over the access levels your users have. Rather than the previous Administrator and User
designations, Analytics now offers four different permissions that you can apply singly
or in combination:
 Manage Users: Can manage account users (add/delete users, assign permissions).
Does not include Edit or Collaborate.
 Edit: Can perform administrative and report-related functions (e.g.,
add/edit/delete accounts, properties, views, filters, goals, etc., but not manage
users), and see report data. Includes Collaborate.
 Collaborate: Can create personal assets, and share them. Can collaborate on
shared assets, for example, edit a dashboard or annotation. Includes Read &
Analyze.
 Read & Analyze: Can see report and configuration data; can manipulate data
within reports (e.g., filter a table, add a secondary dimension, create a segment);
can create personal assets, and share them, and see shared assets. Cannot
collaborate on shared assets.
Parent permissions are inherited by default (account > property > view). For example,
when you set permissions for a user at the account level, that user then has those same
permissions for all the properties and views in that account.
Permissions set for a child super cede permissions set for the parent.
As you progress down the hierarchy, you can give more permissions, but not fewer, e.g.,
if a user has Read & Analyze permission at the account level, you can then also

38
grant Edit permission at the property or view level; but if a user has Edit permission at
the account level, you can’t limit permission to just Read & Analyze at the property level.
You assign user permissions on the Admin page at the account, property, and view
levels. At any of those levels, simply click User Management.
To change permissions for an existing user, click the corresponding menu in
the Permissions column.
Select the permission you want to add, or clear the permission you want to remove,
then click Save.
To add permissions for a new user, enter the user’s email address in the Add permissions
for field, assign permissions via the menu, and then click Add:

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GOOGLE ALGORITHM
GOOGLE PANDA

Google Panda is a change to Google's search results ranking algorithm that was
first released in February 2011. The change aimed to lower the rank of "low-
quality sites" or "thin sites" and return higher-quality sites near the top of the
search results
 The patent states that Google Panda creates a ratio with a site's inbound links
and reference queries, search queries for the site's brand. That ratio is then used
to create a site wide modification factor. The site wide modification factor is then
used to create a modification factor for a page based upon a search query. If the
page fails to meet a certain quality threshold, the modification factor is applied
and, therefore, the page would rank lower in the search engine results page.
 Google Panda affects the ranking of an entire site or a specific section rather
than just the individual pages on a site.
 Google updated Panda and stated that they are deploying an "over-optimization
penalty," in order to level the playing field
GOOGLE PENGUIN
 Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm update that was first
announced on April 24, 2012.
 The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that
violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using now declared black-hat SEO
techniques involved in increasing artificially the ranking of a webpage by
manipulating the number of links pointing to the page.
 Such tactics are commonly described as link schemes
Google EMD (Exact match domain)
An exact-match domain is a domain name that exactly matches the searched keyword
phrase of a user, and contains no dashes.
For example, if you search Google for the keyword phrase “diapers,” then Diapers.com
would be the exact-match domain name.
And EMD is a single word like Insurance.com, a phrase like ReputationRepair.com, or a

geographic location like LasVegas.com. Reputation-Repair.com and Las-Vegas.com
would not be considered EMDs.
For example, howtoinvestinstocks.com is your URL. "How to invest in stocks" is an exact

phrase that someone might type into Google when looking for financial advice, so
Google could be penalizing a site with and exact search phrase in the URL - seeing that
as an unfair advantage over other sites offering financial advice which don't use this
practice. While it may not be intentional, there are sites out there which name their
domain after a search phrase in order to get found on Google.

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EMD is just Google's method of cracking down on these sites.

However, if you do have a site with some exact search names, you can still overcome a
penalty simply by following usual SEO best practices
1. Make sure you have plenty of legitimate links coming back to your site. While an
EMD penalty might take away your advantage, having more links than your
competition can get you to the top of the search rankings.
2. Use social media to your advantage. In our experience, the people who tend to get
hit with penalties don't use social media so they aren't getting their sites out there
for people to consume them.e
3. Keep your site up to date by adding at least one piece of original content each
week and then send it out via social media
4. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Too many times, we have seen people lock in
on one keyword only to find that later once Google makes a change they lose all of
their work spent trying to outsmart Google.
Google Humming Bird
 It’s the name of the new search algorithm that Google is using; one that Google
says should return better results.
 On October 3rd, 2013 Google announced a major search algorithm release called
Hummingbird.
 Hummingbird should better focus on the meaning behind the words. It may
better understand the actual location of your home, if you’ve shared that with
Google. It might understand that “place” means you want a brick-and-mortar
store.
 It might get that “iPhone 5s” is a particular type of electronic device carried by
certain stores. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just
finding pages with matching words.
 In particular, Google said that Hummingbird is paying more attention to each
word in a query, ensuring that the whole query — the whole sentence or
conversation or meaning — is taken into account, rather than particular words.
The goal is that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages
matching just a few words.
GOOGLE WEBMASTER
Google Webmaster tool is a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows
webmasters to check indexing status and optimize their websites. It has tools that let
the webmasters submit and check sitemaps generate and check robots .txt files, list
internal and external pages linking to the site, view statistics related to how Google
crawls the site and more.
Webmaster tool is a free services from Google by which we can get free indexing data,
back links information, Crawl errors, Search queries, CTR, Website malware error and
submit the sitemap.

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URL REMOVER
HOW TO REMOVE A URL FROM GOOGLE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS
When you Google your name, you may cringe to realize that you have content out there
that possibly even you put out that may not paint you in the most professional light.
What might have seemed like harmless fun in your college years may not be something
you want your future boss finding down the road. Or maybe you’ve decided to have a
specific username for personal purposes while using your given name for your
professional image.
On the plus side, these are profiles or content that you control so it should be easy to
adjust or remove. The problem is, even after these pages have been removed they can
stay indexed in the search engines for weeks even months after you’ve altered them.
Not so convenient if you’re attempting to clean up the SERPs just in time for that big job
interview.
Google URL Removal Tool
To remove a URL from Google, first make sure that you are logged into your Google
accounts. Next, go to the Google webmaster tools and click on the New Removal Request.
Then, type in the exact URL that you want removed and then click continue. Finally,
click Remove this page. You will see that there is a pending request for your URL
removal.
*Note: Google will only remove the URL you submitted and will not investigate
further. It’s common for large sites to have multiple URLs with the same content, so be
sure you weed all those out and submit the request for multiple removals
Remove Google Cache

A URL removal is not to be confused with an attempt to remove Google cache. For the
above example, I had physically altered the URL by changing the username,
thereby rendering the previous page unusable. Therefore, I wanted the old URL
removed completely. If, perhaps, the URL had been fine but, instead, I needed to alter
the username on a page in the site; I would need for Google’s cache to be updated if
wanted it to be reflected in the search engines results. Google does offer you the

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opportunity to remove a cached page from Google by submitting the URL that you want
updated and then typing a word from the previous (out of date) version to demonstrate
that the live version and the cached version don’t match.
Remove Search Results from Google

Your part is done. Now it’s time to let Google take over. Once you’ve submitted the URL,
Google will check the validity of the request. In my case, Google could clearly see that
the page was returning a 404 error and so they updated it accordingly. The period of
time from submission until actual removal from search results was less than 24 hours.
How to Remove a Website from Google

Some of you may be thinking: Good to know, but my real problem is I want to remove my
name from Google, or remove a page from Google or even remove an entire website
from Google. Oh, and by the way, I don’t control these sources. But, man, they’re truly
harsh in my online reputation. Don’t worry, I’ve got tips on how to remove all of the
above a from the search results… in my next post. So be watching for it.
Cached pages in Google search results

If you are not the site owner for this page, learn how to remove content from someone
else's site
If you see an older version of content in Google Search results from an updated web
page, you can request that the older, cached page be blocked from Google Search results.
Block the cached version of a page from Google Search results
1. Go to the URL removal tool.

2. Enter the URL of the updated page exactly as it appears in your browser when you
navigate to it.
3. Click Request Removal.
4. The Analyzing URL panel appears which asks "Has the site owner updated or
removed the content?"
Leave yes as the choice and click next.
5. The next panel offers you the choice to update the snippet or remove the content.
Click Next to update the Search snippet and cache.

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6. Finally, provide a word from the old version that is NOT in the new version.
7. Click Request Removal.

Once Google confirms that the submitted word(s) no longer appear on the page, the
search result will no longer show a snippet and the cached page will not be available.
Once the page is re-indexed, the updated snippet and new page can be visible in search
results. Users will still be able to visit the live page. Because this information has been
removed from the live page, this page will not return as a result for searches on related
keywords after our next crawl. As you may know,
Don’t describe the removed content or the changes made; instead, explicitly provide a
word that was in the old version but is missing from the new. For example, the cached
page might contain your name, which has since been removed from the live version. In
this case, don’t write "my name has been removed," but rather enter your actual name
("Sylvia") as it appears in the cached version.
QUERY DESERVES FRESHNESS

the QDF model takes a number of factors into account, including:
 Search volume
 News coverage
 Blog coverage
 Toolbar data (maybe)
Google has a patent on the methods they use to gather this data including a sampling
technique that allows them to gather statistically accurate data without having to trawl
through all the logs for a particular query.
QDF is clearly a very interesting model but what really interests me is how I can use it to
drive traffic to my websites. This is where the Hot Topics tool comes in.

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As you might have guessed QDF is a great way for newer sites to publish content and
leapfrog the Google trust filter for queries that Google thinks are fresh. The key is to
post about breaking news stories as soon as possible, hope Google indexes your story
quickly and watch the traffic come rolling in. Once your site ranks highly it becomes a
self reinforcing authority and is referenced by other people researching the topic.
So, next time you are stuck for something to write about make sure you choose
something fresh. Find something people are blogging about and searching for in much
greater numbers than last week.
A good example today is the search for “canoeist” which is probably a very low volume
term. Today thousands of people are searching for information about the canoeist who
went missing 5 years ago and turned up in London at the weekend. The search results
are now full of references to this new story. Notice how Google has given higher
rankings to stories released within the last 2 days whereas other articles about
canoeists from very well trusted sites are down on page 2 and 3.
QDF is a little knows Google an acronym that us website designers use to get a website
top of Google. It stands for Query Deserves Freshness which I’m sure makes you none
the wiser but if you use this Google feature with your website you will see some
amazing results.
Google monitors the web for what it calls spikes, in other words sharp increases in
activity be it searches, written content, advertising etc.
How can you use QDF?

Timing is everything; you need to be able to write good copy and post on either your
web pages or a blog spot linked to your website quickly. Wait for a relevant (to your
business) news story even if it’s a local one then write and publish. Try and match the
keywords being used in the main story so Google can match.
How can you use QDF to promote your own business?

By using the QDF algorithm and your blog you are generating traffic to your website, the
browser will read the article then hopefully stay for a while to see what you do. If your
website is interesting and relevant to the browsers requirements you may get an
enquiry
KEYWORD EFFECTIVE INDEXING
Introduction:
Many people new to marketing think that Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is the
magic formula to achieve high ranking in the search engines and thereby secure a
steady stream of money. The claim is supported by the documentation of almost all
keyword research tools and has been repeated by thousands of inexperienced
marketing people.

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I say that if anyone says that the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is great to find good
keywords/search terms, without explaining any of the drawbacks, then they are either
out to cheat you or they just don’t know any better.
Definition: Keyword effectiveness index: A mathematical representation of the

popularity of a keyword measured in number of searchers (demand), compared to its
popularity measured as the number of pages in a search engines index (supply).
Description: KEI is a statistical formulation that reveals the most effective keyword
phrases and terms to use in optimizing your web pages for. Efficiency can be many
things. According to KEI, it is efficient to optimize for keywords that have many
searchers, but only a few competing pages.
The lower the KEI, the more popular your keywords are, and the less competition they
have. That means that you might have a better chance of getting to the top in the search
engines and receive a good number of searchers for your effort.
Example: Suppose the number of searches for a keyword is 821 per day and Google
displays 224,234 results (pages) for that keyword. Then the ratio between the
popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is:
224,234 divided by 821. In this case, the KEI is 273.
Example on the opposite: Suppose the number of searches for a keyword is 2 per day
and Google displays 11,224,234 results (pages) for that keyword. Then the ratio
between the popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is:
Explanation: According to the KEI definition, the best keywords are those that have
many searches and that don’t have much competition in the search results. A low KEI is
therefore preferable.
In our example, it is clear that the keyword with a KEI of 273 sounds as a good keyword
to optimized a pages for. It is just as clear, in the example on the opposite, that the
keyword that has lots of competitors and a low number of searchers which gives a KEI
equal to 5,612,117 is a tough fight for a small prices (unless the two searchers are very
valuable;-).
However, the KEI makes no statement about the quality of the competition. While there
might only be a few competitors in the search results, these competitors could be big
players with big SEO teams and thousands of back links.
The number of search results can’t really tell you whether it is easy to get your web site
listed in the top 10 results for that keyword or not. It’s much easier to move your web
site from position 20,000 to position 12,000 than from position 190 to position 6.
In addition, the KEI factor is not a scientific number. It is more like a rule of thumb.
We will expect:

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• The KEI for a keyword to increase if its popularity increases. Popularity is defined as
the number of searchers.
• The KEI for a keyword to decrease if it becomes more competitive. Competitiveness is
defined as the number of sites which a search engine e.g. Google displays when you
search for that keyword using exact match.
As a general rule, it isn’t advisable to select or deselect keywords wholly on the basis of
numbers like KEI.
Keyword statistic has some uncertainties attached. Keywords relevancy has to be the
most important factor. Some of your keywords you are able to rank for in the search
engines and other will give your users a good experience.
How to practice: When you have a keyword phrases, with a high, medium or low KEI,
you need to be able to answer: Is there a reason why the KEI might be giving an
incorrect picture?
There can be many reasons why KEI are showing you something you can’t use.
Here are some of the reasons:
1. The position of the words in the keyword phrases is unnatural.

Ex. “keyword report” has 534,000 pages in Google’s index, and the more unnatural
“report keyword” has 29,100 pages. This doesn’t mean there is 18 times less
competitions for “report keyword”.
2. More words in a keyword phrase means a much smaller changes to find them in a
webpage.
3. Search engines don’t give the accurate number of pages in their index.
4. The number of searchers isn’t an accurate number and many times known keywords
are inflated by the use of automated tools like webmaster gold.
By blindly using KEI to select keywords, you run the risk to select keywords that have
words in an unnatural order, long keyword phrases and known highly competitive
keywords where it is mostly automated tool that search for them. Not good if you were
looking for keyword phrases with little competition and many searchers.
Tips: Always ask yourself if there is a good reason why a keyword phrase has a low
number, before you get all excited.
Some keyword phrases convert badly to customers and therefore it is easier to rank for
them. Do you want to put a big effort to rank for low value keywords?
LATENT SYMANTEC INDEXING
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a process by which contents of a webpage are crawled
by a search engine and the most common words and phrases are collated and identified
as the keywords for the page. LSI looks for synonyms related to the title of your page.
For example, if the title of your page was “Classic Cars”, the search engine would expect to
find words relating to that subject in the content of the page as well, i.e. “collectors”,
“automobile”, “Bentley”, “Austin” and “car auctions”.

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SEO strategy has always denoted that great importance is placed on the page title and
words encased in heading tags, especially the H1 tag. Words and phrases within the
content that are bolded or italicized are also given a greater importance. But you should
be aware of the use of LSI, as it can affect what keywords your website is ranked for.
But if your page contains synonyms, the search engine recognizes that your page is
actually about the subject title and will place greater importance on the page. You may
well already use good keyword techniques and add a few secondary keywords into your
content, but the rest of the content should also be littered with synonyms to convince
search engine spiders.
A Response to Keyword-Stuffing
Latent Semantic Indexing came as a direct reaction to people trying to cheat search
engines by cramming Meta keyword tags full of hundreds of keywords, Meta description
full of more keywords, and page content full of nothing more than random keywords and
no subject-related material or worthwhile content.
Search engines, like Google, appreciate good content, and encouraging people to add good
content that helps keep the high-ranked listings relevant. Although producing good
content will not guarantee you first page rankings, it could improve your quality score.
Latent Semantic Indexing is not rocket science, it is simple common sense. Here are some
simple guidelines:
1. If your page title is Learn to Play Tennis, make sure your article is about tennis.
2. Do not overuse your keywords in the content. It could look like keyword stuffing
and the search engines may red flag you.
3. Never use Article Spinning Software – it spits out unreadable garble.
4. If you outsource your content, choose a quality source.
5. Check Google Webmaster Tools and see what keywords your pages are ranking
for.
HT ACCESS FILES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE
A .htaccess (hypertext access) file is a directory-level configuration file supported by

several web servers that allows for decentralized management of web server
configuration. They are placed inside the web tree, and are able to override a subset of
the server's global configuration for the directory that they are in, and all sub-
directories.
The original purpose of .htaccess—reflected in its name—was to allow per-directory
access control, by For example requiring a password to access the content.
Nowadays however, the .htaccess files can override many other configuration settings
including content type and character set, CGI handlers, etc.

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Common Usage
 Authorization, authentication
A .htaccess file is often used to specify security restrictions for a directory, hence the
filename "access". The .htaccess file is often accompanied by a .htpasswd file which
stores valid usernames and their passwords
 Rewriting URLs
Servers often use .htaccess to rewrite long, overly comprehensive URLs to shorter and
more memorable ones.
 Blocking
Uses allow/deny to block users by IP address or domain. Also, use to block bad bots,
rippers and referrers. Often used to restrict access by Search Engine spiders
 SSI
Enable server-side include.
 Directory listing
Control how the server will react when no specific web page is specified.
 Customized error responses
Changing the page that is shown when a server-side error occurs, for example HTTP
404 Not Found or, to indicate to a search engine that a page has moved, HTTP 301
Moved Permanently.
MIME types
Instruct the server how to treat different varying file types.
Cache Control
.htaccess files allow a server to control caching by web browsers and proxies to
reduce bandwidth usage, server load, and perceived lag.
Advantages:
 Immediate changes
Because .htaccess files are read on every request, changes made in these files
take immediate effect – as opposed to the main configuration file which requires
the server to be restarted for the new settings to take effect.
 Non-privileged users
For servers with multiple users, it is often desirable to allow individual users the
ability to alter their site configuration. The use of .htaccess files allows such
individualization, and by unprivileged users – because the main server
configuration files do not need to be changed.
CANONICAL LINKS
A canonical link element is an HTML element that helps webmasters prevent duplicate
content issues by specifying the "canonical", or "preferred", version of a web page.
Duplicate content issues occur when the same content is accessible from multiple URLs.

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For example
http://www.example.com/page.html
Would be considered by search engines to be an entirely different page from
http://www.example.com/page.html?parameter=1,
Even though both URLs return the same content.
The canonical link element, which can be inserted into the “<head>” section of a web
page, to allow webmasters to prevent these issues.
The canonical link element helps webmasters make clear to the search engines which
page should be credited as the original.
According to Google, the canonical link element is not considered to be a directive, but a
hint that the web crawler will "honor strongly".
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/" />
The syntax is pretty simple: An ugly URL such as
http://www.example.com/page.html?sid=asdf314159265 can specify in the HEAD part
of the document the following:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/page.html"/>
That tells search engines that the preferred location of this URL (the “canonical”
location, in search engine speak) is http://example.com/page.html instead of
http://www.example.com/page.html?sid=asdf314159265
What are site links?
The links shown below some of Google's search results, called sitelinks, are meant to
help users navigate your site. google systems analyze the link structure of your site to
find shortcuts that will save users time and allow them to quickly find the information
they're looking for.
1: The main search result

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2: Sitelinks
We only show sitelinks for results when we think they'll be useful to the user. If the
structure of your site doesn't allow our algorithms to find good sitelinks, or we don't
think that the sitelinks for your site are relevant for the user's query, we won't show
them.
At the moment, sitelinks are automated. We're always working to improve our sitelinks
algorithms, and we may incorporate webmaster input in the future. There are best
practices you can follow, however, to improve the quality of your sitelinks. For example,
for your site's internal links, make sure you use anchor text and alt text that's
informative, compact, and avoids repetition.
If you think that a sitelink URL is inappropriate or incorrect, you can demote it.
Demoting a URL for a sitelink tells Google that you don't consider this URL a good
sitelink candidate for a specific page on your site. Google doesn't guarantee that
demoted URLs will never appear as a sitelink, but we do consider a demotion a strong
hint that we'll try to honor when generating sitelinks.
What is keyword mapping?
Keyword mapping is a process where you map the researched keywords, related to
your site to specific landing pages. The idea is to map them to ideal landing pages as
opposed to existing content. This process innately addresses information architecture
and site architecture issues which arise when deciding where on your site each piece of
content should "live".
The advantages of keyword mapping are
 Helps you create a structured, intuitive funnel that guides your site navigation
 Creates a hierarchy of topics, subtopics and sub-subtopics that informs your content
authoring
 Serves as an official record of which pages are associated with which keywords
 Informs your site’s internal and external link development
These benefits are especially pertinent if there are several stakeholders involved (link
builders, copy writers, SEOs, etc) who are all working on the same project. Having a
comprehensive keyword map sets the rules and creates a blueprint for multi-
contributors across a website, keeping everyone on the same page, so to speak.
How to Create A Structured Keyword Map

Once you have your keyword data, you should aggregate it into one source.
Most SEOs use an Excel spreadsheet for this. I’m going to use Word Stream to
demonstrate because it's a keyword grouping machine and was built for quickly
segmenting massive keyword lists into subgroups, which helps in establishing
hierarchical relevance.

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You can do the same thing in Excel, but it’s takes a lot longer.
So once you have all your keyword data aggregated into your chosen grouping platform,
you can begin to create keyword taxonomy (hierarchical classification of keywords by
intent, significance, and relevance) and segment that data into groupings and any
number of sub groupings.
The Power of Keyword Mapping

So there you have it. Keyword mapping for SEO helps you stay organized by creating an
official record of keyword-to-page relationships. This degree of organization keeps all
your site contributors on the same page with content authoring, internal linking
(assigning your keywords to relevant pages for accurate anchor text linking) and site
navigation, which will create a richer users experience, a more successful site and a
recipe for SEO prosperity.

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Off Page Optimization

Directory Submission
Directory submission is another pivotal tool for effective online promotion of your
website. There are some of most trusted web directories online which are hit by a large
number of visitors’ everyday whenever they are in need of any information.
Directory submission services would mean submission of your URL plus website details
to these directories so that it becomes visible to a great lot of visitors whenever they
would browsing through these directories for details regarding your respective
services.
The URL & site details submitted to the directories would be categorically arranged
below various heads. The interested visitors might browse & click on that URL below
the pertinent category and reach up to your website, enhancing your degree of potential
traffic pull in turn.
Examples of well-known general web directories are Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ
Directories have various features in listing; often depend upon the price paid for
inclusion:
 Free submission – there is no charge for the review and listing of the site
 Reciprocal link – a link back to the directory must be added somewhere on the
submitted site in order to get listed in the directory
 No Reciprocal link — a web directory where you will submit your links for free
and no need to add link back to your website.
 Paid submission – a one-time or recurring fee is charged for reviewing/listing

the submitted link
 No follow – there is a rel="nofollow" attribute associated with the link, meaning

search engines will give no weight to the link.
 Featured listing – the link is given a premium position in a category (or multiple
categories) or other sections of the directory, such as the homepage. Sometimes
called sponsored listing.
 Bid for position – where sites are ordered based on bids
 Affiliate links – where the directory earns commission for referred customers
from the listed websites
Search Engine Submission
Search engine submission is how a webmaster submits a website directly to a search

engine. While Search Engine Submission is often seen as a way to promote a web site,

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It generally is not necessary because the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and
Bing use crawlers, bots, and spiders that eventually would find most web sites on the
Internet all by themselves.
There are two basic reasons to submit a web site or web page to a search engine. 1. The
first reason would be to add an entirely new web site because the site operators would
rather not wait for a search engine to discover them.
2. The second reason is to have a web page or web site updated in the respective search
engine.
How web sites are submitted there are two basic methods still in use today that would
allow a webmaster to submit their site to a search engine. They can either submit just
one web page at a time, or they can submit their entire site at one time with a sitemap.
However, all that a webmaster really needs to do is to submit just the home page of a
web site. With just the home page, most search engines are able to crawl a site, provided
that it is well designed.
Most websites want to be listed in popular search engines, because that's how most
people start their search for a product or service. A searcher, (or AKA "User"), seek
information on the web, using a search engine. Websites that appear on the first page of
a search are, usually, called the top 10. Clicking on the blue URL / hyperlink causes the
web page / website to appear in the web browser.
Thus, webmasters often highly desire that their sites appear in the top 10 in a search
engine search. This is because searchers are not very likely to look over more than one
page of search results, known as a SERPs.
Blog submission:
It is one of the off pages activity in which we upload or create a blog for our website to
the visitor. We can submit blog in our website & provide link of our blog to other
websites.
Article Submission:
Article directories allow users to submit unique articles to the directory. These
directories allow articles to embed links to other websites with relevant anchor text.
Popular article directories are considered authority sites and are constantly crawled by
search engine bots. Webmasters submit articles with relevant anchor text linking back
to their site to obtain backlinks.
Article structure and format
For SEO purposes, the ideal article length is currently 800–1200 words with a keyword
density of approximately 2%–3%. Optimal article length changes over time; as recently
as 2008, articles that were 200 to 400 words long were deemed acceptable. As search
engines continue to evolve the importance of the content continues to rise. Most article
directories allow links but usually limit the number to 2 or 3. The backlinks should have
anchor text created using HREF tags. Most article directories prohibit keyword stuffing,
so it is good practice to use multiple anchor text and links in the article.

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Social book-marking:
A social bookmarking service is a centralized online service which enables users to add,
annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web documents. Tagging is a significant feature
of social bookmarking systems.
Unlike file sharing, social bookmarking does not save the resources themselves, merely
bookmarks that reference them, i.e. a link to the bookmarked page. Descriptions may be
added to these bookmarks in the form of metadata, so users may understand the
content of the resource without first needing to download it for themselves. Such
descriptions may be free text comments, votes in favour of or against its quality, or tags
that collectively or collaboratively become a folksonomy. Folksonomy is also called
social tagging, "the process by which many users add metadata in the form of keywords
to shared content".
In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to
remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved
privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain
networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people
can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search
engine.
Most social bookmark services encourage users to organize their bookmarks with
informal tags instead of the traditional browser-based system of folders, although some
services feature categories/folders or a combination of folders and tags. They also
enable viewing bookmarks associated with a chosen tag, and include information about
the number of users who have bookmarked them. Some social bookmarking services
also draw inferences from the relationship of tags to create clusters of tags or
bookmarks.
Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks,
including lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new
bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by other users. It also helps to
promote your sites by networking with other social book markers and collaborating
with each other.
As these services have matured and grown more popular, they have added extra
features such as ratings and comments on bookmarks, the ability to import and export
bookmarks from browsers, emailing of bookmarks, web annotation, and groups or
other social network features.
Free Classifieds:
It type bookmarking your business in free classifieds websites without any charge.
There are lists of websites on internet for free registering of your business online.
Most of the time free classified bookmarking is used for local business purpose.
Ex: local general shop, carpenter, household repair works agency.

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Press release submission:
A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a
written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the
purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy. Typically, they are mailed,
faxed, or e-mailed to assignment editors at newspapers, magazines, radio stations,
television stations, or television networks.
Websites have changed the way press releases are submitted. Commercial, fee-based
press release distribution services, such as news wire services, or free website services
co-exist, making news distribution more affordable and leveling the playing field for
smaller businesses. Such websites hold a repository of press releases and claim to make
a company's news more prominent on the web and searchable via major search engines.
The use of press releases is common in the field of public relations (PR). Typically, the
aim is to attract favorable media attention to the PR professional's client and/or provide
publicity for products or events marketed by those clients. A press release provides
reporters with an information subsidy containing the basics needed to develop a news
story. Press releases can announce a range of news items, such as scheduled events,
personal promotions, awards, new products and services, sales and other financial data,
accomplishments, etc. They are often used in generating a feature story or are sent for
the purpose of announcing news conferences, upcoming events or a change in
corporation.

Search
Engine
Marketing
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AdWords basics -
Ready, set, go! We'll cover the basics to help you understand how AdWords works and get started
advertising. Learn how to set up your AdWords account, navigate key features, and launch your first
campaign.
Advertising on Google AdWords: An overview
 AdWords, Google's online advertising program, lets you reach new customers and grow your
business.
 Choose where your ad appears, set a budget you're comfortable with, and measure the impact
of your ad.
 There's no minimum spending commitment. You can pause or stop anytime.
 Get started at https://adwords.google.com.
Reach people as they search for words or phrases (which we call keywords) or browse websites with
themes related to your business. Your ad can appear on Google and its partner websites. With cost-
per-click (CPC) bidding, you're charged only when someone clicks your ad.
What is AdWords?
An introduction to AdWords. Learn how Google's powerful online advertising tool can help you
reach new customers and grow sales. Learn more about setting up your AdWords account at
http://goo.gl/r2rudC
Subscribe to AdWords Help on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/learnwithgoogle
Benefits of advertising with Google AdWords
A few important things set AdWords apart from other kinds of advertising. Using AdWords, you can:
Reach people at the precise moment they’re searching for what you offer:
 Your ad is displayed to people who are already searching for the kinds of products and services
you offer. So those people are more likely to take action.
 You can choose where your ad appears -- on which specific websites and in which geographical
areas (states, towns, or even neighbourhoods).
 The Google Display Network (GDN) alone reaches 80% of Internet users in the US.
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Control your budget:
 With cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, you’re charged only when someone clicks your ad, not when
your ad appears. There are a variety of bidding options you can choose from.
 You decide how much or little you want to spend monthly, and you’ll never be charged more
than that amount.
 There’s no minimum spending commitment.
See exactly what's working in your ad, and build on it:
 View a report of how your ad is doing -- see how many new customers connect to your
business from your ad, where they’re coming from, and more.
 Use AdWords tools to edit and improve your ad, and increase the number of potential
customers who contact your business.
Example:
Let's say you run a bicycle repair shop near Boston. Set your ad to appear to customers in just that
location, and when someone living or visiting there searches Google for "bike repair near Boston,"
they could see your ad and click it to connect to your business.
It's simple to get started, and it's easy to pause or stop. No strings attached.
How AdWords works:
To understand how AdWords works and make the most of your advertising budget, it's important to
familiarize yourself with some key building blocks -- like keywords, placements, Ad Rank, bids, and
Quality Score.
How keywords trigger your ad to appear:
Keywords are words or phrases you choose that can trigger your ad to show on search and other
sites. For example, if you deliver fresh flowers, you could use "fresh flower delivery" as one keyword
in your AdWords campaign. When someone searches Google using the phrase "fresh flower
delivery" or a similar term, your ad might appear next to Google search results. Your ad can also
appear on other websites in the Google Network that are related to fresh flower delivery.
Tip: Create a list of keywords that are most relevant to your product or service. Make sure you use
specific keywords -- rather than more general keywords -- to increase the chances that your ad is
showing to people who are most interested in your product or service. For example, use the
keyword “fresh flower delivery” rather than simply “flower.” This improves your ad's performance
and helps your advertising dollars go further.
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Placements: Advertising on non-search websites:
Keywords can trigger your ads to appear next to search results on Google and other search sites. But
keywords can also trigger your ads to show on other sites across the Internet -- Google-owned
properties like YouTube as well as Google's partner sites like NYTimes.com or Families.com, for
example. We call these placements, which are part of what we call the Display Network.
Google can automatically determine where your ads appear by matching your keywords to websites
in the Display Network. Or, if you'd like greater control over where your ads appear, you can pick
specific placements yourself. You can set bids for each and choose the sites where your ads might
appear.
Ad Rank: How Google determines which ads appear in which positions
Now let's suppose that multiple advertisers use the same keyword to trigger their ads or want their
ads to appear on the same websites. Google uses Ad Rank to determine whose ads will appear, and
in what order.
Your Ad Rank is based on a combination of:
 Your bid, which is how much you're willing to spend

 The quality of your ads and website
 Expected impact from your ad extensions and other ad formats
A bit about bidding and ad quality:
Your bid and ad quality can work slightly differently across different campaign types. Here are a
couple of examples to help illustrate.
With a keyword-targeted ad on Google and its search partners, your bid is based on your maximum
cost-per-click (max. CPC) bid, the maximum amount you're willing to pay for each click on your ad
(though the final amount you're charged per click -- your actual CPC -- could end up being less). Your
ad quality is calculated based on the components of Quality Score: expected clickthrough rate, ad
relevance, and landing page experience.
At the end of the day, what you pay
Each time an AdWords ad is eligible to appear for a search, it goes through the ad auction. What
you’re charged (your actual CPC) is often less than your max. CPC bid because, with the AdWords
auction, the most you'll pay is what's minimally required to hold your ad position and any ad formats
shown with your ad, such as sitelinks.
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How costs are calculated in AdWords
 AdWords gives you control over your advertising costs.

 There's no minimum amount that you have to spend. Instead, you set an average daily budget
and choose how you'll spend your money.
Choosing a bidding strategy based on your goals
Every time someone searches on Google, AdWords runs an auction to determine the ads that show
on the search results page, and their rank on the page. To place your ads in this auction, you first
have to choose how you'd like to bid. Try choosing a bidding strategy based on your goals, like
whether you want to focus on getting clicks, impressions, or conversions.
Focus on clicks on your ads:
This is known as a cost-per-click, or CPC bid. We recommend the CPC bidding method if you want to
drive traffic to your website.
Focus on impressions, or the number of times your ad shows.
This is known as a cost-per-impressions, or CPM bid. We recommend the CPM bidding method if you
want to increase awareness of your brand. Note that CPM bidding is available for Display
Network campaigns only.
Focus on conversions, or when people take a specific action on your website after clicking
on one of your ads.
This is known as a cost-per-acquisition, or CPA bid. We recommend the CPA bidding method for
seasoned AdWords advertisers who are interested in conversions, like purchases or signups.
The ad auction
The concept
Every time an AdWords ad appears, it goes through what we call the ad auction, a process that
decides which ads will appear and in which order. It's not like an art auction where the highest
bidder always wins; instead, AdWords does something a little more interesting:
1. The search
Jose searches for "pizza delivery."

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2. Ads are whittled down
The AdWords system finds all ads whose keywords match that phrase "pizza delivery" closely
enough.
3. Ads whittled even more
From that set of matching ads, the system ignores any that aren't eligible, like ads that target a
different country or are disapproved.
4. Ads are ordered
The remaining ads are shown, ordered on the page based on a formula we call Ad Rank, a
combination of bid amount, the quality of your ads and landing page, and the expected impact of
extensions and other ad formats. Keep in mind that a minimum Ad Rank is required for ads to show,
so it’s possible for no ads to appear.
5. Ads appear!
Jose sees relevant ads appear and orders the pizza of his dreams.
6. Repeat the process
Every time someone hankers for a pizza and does a search, the whole auction process starts again
with potentially different results each time, depending on the competition at that moment.
Why it matters
The most important thing to remember is that the auction process uses quality, bids, and the
expected impact of extensions and other ad formats to determine your ad's position. So even if your
competition bids higher than you, you can still win a higher position -- at a lower price -- with high-
quality ads, landing pages, and extensions.
Also remember that the auction process repeats for every search on Google, each time with
potentially different results depending on the competition at that moment and which ad you use. So
don't worry if your position on the page fluctuates -- it's normal for it to vary each time.
How you'll see it
In step 4 shown above, ads are ordered on the page (that's your ad position) using a formula
called Ad Rank. The main components of Ad Rank are your bids, the quality of your ads, and website,
as well as the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats. If you want to try to boost your
position, you'll need to beat your competitors with quality, bid amounts, or a mixture of both.
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These are the different bidding strategies that you can set. Read the section below to learn more
about choosing a bidding strategy.
Choose a bidding strategy
Most people starting out in AdWords use the basic CPC bidding strategy, which means they accrue
costs based on the number of clicks they get on their ads.
If you use the CPC bidding strategy, the amount you're charged per click depends in part on
the maximum cost-per-click bid you set in your account, also called "max CPC" bid. This represents
the highest amount that you're willing to pay for a click on your ad (unless you're setting bid
adjustments, or using Enhanced CPC). In fact, the most you’ll pay is what’s minimally required to
hold your ad position and any ad formats shown with your ad (including any applicable service fees
that may apply to Display Network campaigns). So you'll often pay less than your maximum bid. The
actual amount you pay is called your actual CPC.
Example
Let's say you've set a maximum CPC bid of US$1 for your ads. The most you'll pay when a
customer clicks your ad is $1.
Control your costs
Now that you understand the basics of how costs work in AdWords, let's look at the ways you can
control your costs:
Set a daily budget to control how much you spend
Budgeting for Your Online Advertising
Learn how to set and manage your advertising budget so you get the sales—without any surprises.
Determine the right budget for you and figure how much to pay per click so you can control your
costs while growing your sales. Read more about managing your AdWords budget at
http://goo.gl/Ew4Eh. Subscribe to AdWords Help on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/learnwithgoogle.
Your daily budget is the amount you're willing to spend each day, on average, for each ad campaign
in your account. The size of your budget is entirely up to you and you can edit this amount whenever
you like.
Recall that when you set your max CPC bid, the amount you're charged for a click on your ad in a
given auction could be less than your max. This means the amount you pay for a click on your ad -
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your actual CPC - will likely vary from auction to auction. Even though your actual CPCs may vary,
your daily budget puts a limit on how much you can accrue in click costs from day to day.
Google may allow up to 20% more clicks in a day than your daily budget specifies. We call
this overdelivery. Overdelivery can help make up for days when traffic is slow and your ads don't get
as much exposure. However, in a given billing period, you're never charged more than the average
number of days in a month (30.4) times your daily budget.
Example
If the budget for your ad campaign remains at $10 per day throughout an entire month, the
maximum amount you would be charged for that campaign for that month is $304 ($10 x 30.4
average days per month). Recall that because of overdelivery, your daily cost might be more or
less than your $10 daily budget on days when traffic is higher or slow.
Where your ads can appear
When you advertise with AdWords, your ads can appear on different places across the web,
depending on how you target your ads, to whom you choose to show them, and the types of ads you
create.
Before you choose where to show your ads, try thinking like your customers. What do they like?
What are their habits? Where are they? What do you need to know about them so you can best
reach them with your ads? Keeping your customers in mind when you make your choices can help
you reach more customers and get a higher return on investment (ROI).
Note:
As you decide where to show your ads and to whom, keep in mind that some features are
available only for certain campaign types. For example, maybe you want to show your ads on
Google during certain days of the week. To do so, you'd create a campaign that targets the
Search Network and includes all features instead of a campaign with standard features.
Here's more about where to show your ads and who might see them.
Showing your ads on Google Search and other search sites
If you use keywords to target your ads, you select a set of keywords related to the product or service
you'd like to advertise. Then, when people search using the words or phrases you picked, your text
ads can appear alongside or above search results.
 On Google search sites: Your ads can appear on Google Search, Shopping, and Maps when
someone searches on your keywords. Here's an example, for the keyword "cupcakes":
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 On other search sites that are part of the Search Network: When someone searches on
search sites that have partnered with Google to show AdWords ads, such as AOL, your ads
might appear alongside or above search results or on other relevant search pages.
 On mobile search: Your ads can appear on http://m.google.com, the mobile version of
Google Search. Here's an example of an ad for cupcakes on mobile search:
Showing your ads on websites that your customers visit
You can also choose to show your ads to people as they browse the web. Your text, image, and
video ads can appear on the Google Display Network. The Display Network is a collection of
websites and specific Google websites -- including Gmail, Blogger, and YouTube -- that show
AdWords ads. This network also includes mobile sites and apps that show ads.
Your ads can appear on specific websites or placements that you choose. For example, if your
business sells wedding cakes, you could choose to show your ad on a popular wedding planning site.
Your ads can appear on websites based on the targeting methods you choose, like keywords,
placements, audiences, and topics.
Showing your ads on mobile phones and devices
You can show your ads to people as they search or visit websites on the go:
 Your text ads can appear when people search on Google from their mobile devices and tablets.
 Your text, image and video ads can appear on Google Display Network websites when people
visit these sites from high-end mobile devices, such as iPhones, Android devices, or tablets.
 Your ads can also appear on mobile apps, which are considered part of our Display Network.
Showing your ads to people in selected locations or who speak a certain language
If you have text ads, you can choose to show them to customers in an entire country, a certain
geographic location, and even to customers who use names of locations in their searches.
Example
If you own a small local ice cream shop, you probably want to show your ads and special offers to
people in nearby cities only. You can do this by targeting just selected cities.
To better reach your potential customers, you can also target your campaigns to the languages
they speak. And if your customers speak multiple languages, you can create separate campaigns
to manage ads and keywords for each of those languages.
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Showing your ads to specific audiences
With AdWords, you can also show your text, image, and video ads on Display Network websites to
specific groups of people:
 People interested in the products or services you offer: You can reach them by adding
relevant interest categories to your campaigns.
 People who we think are associated with certain demographic categories: You can reach them
by targeting your ads by age or gender.
 People who previously visited your site: You can reach them by creating remarketing
campaigns.
We'll then show your ads to people who are added to your lists or who we think are interested in
those categories.
Examples:
 If your business sells clothes for young women, you could use demographic targeting to show
ads about your product just to women.
 Say you own an online business that sells sports equipment. Using remarketing, you can show
ads about ski gear to people who have viewed the ski section of your site in the past, when
they visit other sites on the web. You could even show them a special offer just to them.
Set up an AdWords account:
Create a website for your ads
 When you advertise with Google AdWords, you'll link your online ads to your website.
 If you don't already have a website, you can create one for free using Google Sites.
 If you don't want to create a website, you can create a local page with Google My Business and
advertise with AdWords Express.
In order to advertise with Google AdWords, you need to have your own website. Your online ads will
link to this site, and you can use it as an opportunity to let customers know more about your
business. Then, when you create your first ads, you can use this URL as the address of your landing
page.
Tip
When making a website for your business, consider what information is most useful to your
customers. This often includes store hours, location, and product information. It's also helpful to
use words that customers might use to describe your business.
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Create and verify a local business on Google
If you have a local business, create a page on Google My Business so you can appear on Google
Search, Google Earth, and other Google sites.
AdWords Express allows you to advertise a local business on Google and Google Maps (including
mobile devices). To get started, check the list of countries where AdWords Express is currently
available. With AdWords Express, you’ll set up a monthly budget for your ad, and we'll determine
what search phrases can trigger your ad based on the categories that you select. You'll only pay for
the clicks that your ad actually receives.
Create an AdWords account
Create a new AdWords account and your first campaign at any time by visiting the AdWords
homepage athttps://adwords.google.com. Then, we'll take you through these steps:
Tip
Have a personal Google Account, but want to use AdWords for business? We recommend
keeping separate business and personal Google Accounts, so consider creating another Google
Account in this step.
1. Visit https://adwords.google.com and click the button to get started.

2. We’ll ask you for some basic information, such as your email address and website.
Click Continue to proceed.
3. Next, we'll ask you to sign in.
If you already have a Google account (in other words, if you use any other Google
product, such as Gmail), enter your Google email address and password, then click Sign
in.
If you don’t have an existing Google account, or want to use a different sign in, just
click Create an account at the bottom of the screen and follow the instructions to create
and confirm your new Google account.
4. Now you’re ready to create your first ad campaign. Don’t worry, you won't be charged for
selecting any of these options, and you can always make changes later. We’ll walk you through
how to:
 Set your daily budget
 Choose your target audience
 Decide where you’d like to reach them online
 Select the keywords that can trigger your ads to show
 Set your bid
 Write your ad
5. When you're ready, click Save and continue.
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6. On the "Billing" page you'll enter your billing information, which determines when and how
you'll pay for your ads. You’ll also set your time zone, a setting that applies to your entire
account and can’t be changed later. (If you select your billing country from the drop-down menu
and aren’t prompted to enter your billing information, you'll need to enter it after you've
created your AdWords account. See the note below for instructions.)
7. Click Save and continue.
8. Take a moment to review your account and campaign settings. If you find anything you'd like to
change, click "Go back" until you reach the page you’d like to revise. Otherwise, check the box
when you’re ready to agree to the AdWords Terms and Conditions and click Finish and create.
Congratulations! You've signed up for AdWords and created your first ad campaign. We’ll send you
an email once your ad is approved (usually within one business day).
Setting up currency and time zone
When you create your account, you'll be asked to choose both a currency type and your time zone.
You may change your time zone once, however, you can never change the currency you choose for
your account so select these settings carefully. They're used to determine how you're billed.
Choosing your currency
You should select the currency that you want to use to pay your advertising costs.
Keep in mind
Your currency options may change depending on the country in which you registered your
account. In some countries only certain currencies can be used. For example, in Russia it is only
possible to pay in RUB, not in other currencies such as USD or EUR.
In addition, your choice of currency can affect your choices for paying your bills, such as which
payment instruments you may use to pay off your balance. If you wish to pay with another currency,
you must create a new AdWords account and select your desired currency at the time of account
creation.
Choosing your account time zone
Your reports, statistics, and billing are all affected by the time zone you select. For example, settings
such as your daily budget run on a 24-hour schedule. With more than 200 time zones to choose
from, an AdWords account can be set for most of the world's standard time zones. We recommend
you select your local time zone so your budget cycle ends when your day ends.
All time zones must be in full hour or half-hour increments relative to Greenwich Mean Time. If your
local time zone is one of the few offset a quarter-hour from GMT, the AdWords system can't support
your time zone. Please choose a different time zone for your account.
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Remember that time zone selection affects only the administration of your account. Your selection
doesn't affect the locations where your ad may show.
Account time zones may be changed once over the life of an account. If you need to correct your
time zone selection, please contact us to request a change.
Creating your ad campaign:
Understand how your AdWords account is structured.
It’s no secret that organization is an essential ingredient for success, and AdWords is no exception.
Before you begin creating your campaigns and ads, it's important to learn how AdWords is
structured to help you create effective campaigns that target the right audience.
AdWords is organized into three layers: account, campaigns, and ad groups.
1. Your account is associated with a unique email address, password, and billing information.
2. Your ad campaign has its own budget and settings that determine where your ads appear.
3. Your ad group contains a set of similar ads and the words and phrases, known as keywords,
that you want to trigger your ads to show.
Account
Unique email and password

Billing information
Campaign Campaign
Budget Budget
Settings Settings
Ad Group Ad Group Ad Group Ad Group
Ads Ads Ads Ads

Keywords Keywords Keywords Keywords
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Before you create your first ad campaign, take the time to build a mental profile of the customers
you’re trying to reach. Considering your customers' preferences, habits, and traits can help you
choose the right settings for your campaign. Here are some important areas to consider about your
customers' preferences and behavior:
 Words and phrases they use to search online: If you run a furniture store, think about the
keywords that your potential customers might use to search for furniture. Would they use
general search terms like “furniture” or “furniture store”? It's more likely that a customer
would use more specific terms based on what they’re looking for, such as “buy sectional sofa”
or “dining room chairs.” These words and phrases can help you determine the keywords to
trigger your ads to display in search results.
 Geographical location: Think about where your potential customers are. If you only offer
furniture delivery to customers in your city, then you should limit your campaign’s location
targeting to your city so only potential customers in your city will see your ad. This helps make
sure that you only pay for clicks on your ads from people who live in your delivery area and can
purchase your furniture.
 How they contact you: Consider how you want your customers to get in touch with you. If you
want them to come to your store in person, you can highlight location information in your ads.
Or maybe you’d like them to call you or fill out a contact form online. You can add these and
other options to your ad with ad extensions.
We'll explain these and other campaign settings below in the Understanding your campaign
settings section.
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Think about how much you want to spend to reach customers with your ads.
Once you understand who your customers are, think about how much you want to spend to reach
them with your ads, and what results you're expecting for your campaign to be a success.
AdWords lets you set an average daily budget for each campaign based on your advertising goals
and the general amount you're comfortable spending each day. Get tips on setting a campaign
budget.
Understanding your campaign settings:
Now that you have an understanding of your account structure and a better picture of the
customers you’re trying to reach, you’re ready to consider the campaign settings that suit your
goals. The campaign settings you select will apply to all ads within the same campaign. The type of
campaign you choose determines which settings are available to you.
The settings cover three basic areas related to your ad:
 How much you’ll pay by setting your budget and bid (you can always adjust them later)
 What, besides text and a link, to include in your ad using ad extensions
 Where you want your ads to appear using settings for geographic locations, languages, and
placement on the web (called Networks)
Here’s an overview of the campaign settings you’ll need to address when you set up a new AdWords
campaign:
Setting Description Learn more
Campaign name This is where you

enter a name for
your campaign.
Although AdWords
enters a default
campaign name for
you, you should
choose a name that
clearly describes the
theme of the
campaign so that
you can easily find it
in your account.
Your campaign
name isn't visible to
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your customers.
Type Choosing the campaign type that's right for you

The campaign type
determines which
settings we'll show
you as you create or
edit your campaign.
The type you choose
tailors the campaign
setup to just what's
appropriate for your
goals, eliminating
unrelated features.
We recommend new
advertisers start
with a "Search
Network with
Display Select"
campaign type,
which offers a wide
variety of potential
placements for your
ads.
You’ll also choose a

campaign sub-type,
such as “Standard”
or “All features.”
The sub-type
determines which
settings and options
are available so you
can focus on the
features most
relevant to your
business goals. If
you prefer a simpler
overview of your
campaign and
feature options,
consider using the
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“Standard”
campaign subtype;
use “All features” if
you want to see
everything about
your campaign and
feature options.
Networks The Networks Search Network

setting indicates Display Network
where you want
your ad to appear
based upon the
campaign type you
chose. For example,
with the Google
Search Network,
your ad can appear
on Google search
sites and non-
Google search sites
(like AOL) that
partner with Google
to show search ads,
called search
partners. With the
Google Display
Network, your ad
shows on other sites
that partner with
Google to show ads.
To change your
Networks, you’ll
need to change your
campaign type or
create a new
campaign.
Devices Campaigns target all Types of mobile ads

types of devices,
which include
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desktops, tablets,
and mobile devices.
Later, you can
choose to customize
ads for different
devices.
Locations and languages Your campaign’s ads Location and language targeting
are eligible to show
to customers in your
targeted geographic
locations, or to
customers who have
selected your
targeted language as
their interface
language. We
recommend
choosing the
language you serve
your customers in.
Bidding and budget Choose to manually Setting your bid and budget
set your bids for
clicks on your ads or
let AdWords do it
for you. Depending
on your campaign
type, you may see
additional bidding
options to choose
from.
Your bid
strategy controls
how you pay for
users to interact
with your
ads.Yourdefault
bid is the most you’ll
pay per click for ads
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in an ad group.
Your budget is the
average amount
you’re comfortable
spending each day
on your campaign.
The budget you
choose is entirely up
to you, and you can
adjust it at any time.
Ad extensions Include even more Enhance your ad using extensions

information with
your ads, such as
location
information, links to
pages on your
website, and your
phone number.
Advanced settings Once you’re Using custom ad scheduling

comfortable using
AdWords’ most
essential settings,
consider adopting
one or more of
these optional
features to help get
your ad campaign on
the same schedule
as your customers
(these settings are
available for
campaigns with "All
features" enabled):
 Schedule: Set a
campaign start
and end date.
 Ad scheduling:
Choose certain
days or hours
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of the week for

your ads to
show.
 Ad delivery: By
default,
AdWords
shows your ads
when they're
more likely to
get clicks or
conversions,
but you can
choose to show
your ads more
evenly
throughout the
day.
Creating a campaign
Now that you have a customer profile in mind and an understanding of campaign settings, you’re
ready to use that information to create your campaign and set your budget and bids. You'll need to
make at least one campaign before you can create ads in your account.
Create a Campaign and choose your campaign settings:
Here's how to create a campaign and choose your campaign settings:
1. Visit AdWords at https://adwords.google.com.

o If you’re new to AdWords, click Get started now to create your account. During this
process we’ll also walk you through creating your first campaign. Learn more
about creating your AdWords account and first campaign.
o If you've already created an AdWords account, sign in. Then, click the Campaigns tab.
2. Click the + Campaign button on the Campaigns tab.
3. From the drop-down menu, select the campaign type you want to use. Most advertisers use
"Search Network with Display Select" (recommended for new advertisers), "Search Network
only," or "Display Network only," though other campaign types are available. Learn more
about choosing your campaign type.
4. You'll be taken to the "Select campaign settings" page. Give your campaign a name. Then,
make your choices for the following settings (you can find additional information about these
settings in "Understanding your campaign settings" above):
o Locations
o Languages
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o Bidding and budget

o Ad extensions
5. Click Save and continue. You can edit your campaign settings at any time.
Tip
If you've already set up a similar campaign and you want to use the same settings, you can save
time by loading the settings from your existing campaign into your new campaign. You'll see the
"or load settings from" option and drop-down menu just under the campaign type.
Or you can quickly copy and paste an existing campaign from the “Edit” drop-down menu on the
“Campaigns” tab. Just check the box next to the campaign you want to copy, select “Copy” from
the “Edit” drop-down, then select “Paste” from the drop-down to create the new campaign.
Create your first ad group
After you've saved your campaign settings, you'll be taken to the "Create ad and keywords" page.
This is where you’ll create the first ad group within your campaign. Each ad campaign consists of one
or more ad groups. If you create a "Search Network only - Standard" campaign, you can add multiple
ad groups on the "Create ad groups" page.
About ad groups
An ad group is made up of a set of keywords, ads, and bids. Each ad campaign consists of one or
more ad groups.
Ad groups allow you to group your keywords with the most relevant ads. This helps ensure that you
show the most relevant ad when someone searches for a particular word or phrase. We recommend
creating separate ad groups for the different product types you offer.
Example:
Let’s say you’re a caterer and you want to promote both your wedding and party catering
services. You might want to create two ad groups, one for wedding catering and another for
party catering.
In your wedding catering ad group, you’ll include keywords related specifically to wedding
catering, such as “wedding banquet caterer” or “wedding party.” Then, you’ll create several ads
specifically about your wedding catering service. Because your wedding-related keywords and
ads are in the same ad group, your wedding catering ad will show to people searching for that
specific service.
You’ll do the same in your party catering ad group, with keywords and ads that specifically
address your party catering service.
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Create your ad and choose keywords
On the "Create ad and keywords" page, you’ll choose your ad format, create your ad, and select the
keywords you think your customers would use when searching for information related to your
products or services.
We’ll cover how to create a text ad (the ad format we recommend for newer advertisers), but you
can choose from many different ad formats depending on your advertising goals. These formats
include video ads, image ads, WAP mobile ads, app or digital content ads, and more.
Creating a text ad
To create a text ad, follow these steps:
1. In the "Create an ad" section, select Text ad.

2. Type in your headline, description, display URL, and landing page. The display URL is the web
address, usually your website’s home page, that’s shown to customers with your ad. For the
landing page, enter a destination or final URL, which takes customers to a specific page within
your website. Both URLs should contain the same domain name. For example, an ad with
www.google.com as the display URL and www.google.com/ads as the landing page is
acceptable because they share the domain name, “google.com”
3. Enter your keywords in the "Keywords" section. We recommend starting with 10-20 keywords.
You can always edit or add more keywords later. Learn how to choose keywords and
placements when you create a campaign.
4. Click Save. If this is your first campaign, click Save and continue to billing. Your ads can't run if
you haven't submitted your billing information.
Keep in mind
Once you’ve finished creating your campaign, including at least one ad group, ad, and keyword,
and completed your billing information, your new campaign is enabled by default. When your ad
is approved, it will be eligible to show to customers. You can pause your campaign at any time.
Learn how to edit your campaign status.
Essential AdWords terms

Before you begin, take a few moments to get familiar with these essential AdWords terms:
 Campaign
 Ad group
 Keywords
 Budget
 Bidding
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Campaign - Definition
A set of ad groups (ads, keywords, and bids) that share a budget, location targeting, and other
settings. Campaigns are often used to organize categories of products or services that you offer.
 Your AdWords account can have one or many ad campaigns running.

 Each campaign consists of one or more ad groups.
 Settings that you can set at the campaign level include budget, language, location, distribution
for the Google Network, and more.
 You can create separate ad campaigns to run ads in different locations or using different
budgets.
Ad group - Definition
A set of keywords, ads, and bids you manage together, in order to show ads to people likely to be
interested in them.
 Each of your campaigns is made up of one or more ad groups.

 Separate ad groups are best for different product types you offer (if you’re a caterer, for
example, you could have different ad groups for wedding catering and party catering).
 Ad groups in Display Network campaigns can include targeting methods other than keywords,
like using demographics or remarketing lists.
Keywords - Definition
Words or phrases describing your product or service that you choose to help determine when and
where your ad can appear.
 The keywords you choose are used to show your ads to people. Select high-quality, relevant
keywords for your ad campaign to help you reach only the most interested people, who are
more likely to become your customers.
 When someone searches on Google, your ad could be eligible to appear based on the similarity
of your keywords to the person's search terms, as well as your keyword match types. Keywords
are also used to match your ad to sites in the Google Network that are related to your
keywords and ads.
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 A great keyword list can help improve the performance of your ads and help you to avoid
higher prices. Poor keywords can ultimately cause you to have higher prices and lower ad
position.
 You can add match types to your keywords to help control which searches your ad can be
matched with.
Daily budget - Definition
An amount that you set for each ad campaign to specify how much, on average, you'd like to spend
each day.
 You set an average daily budget for each AdWords campaign, and then the system will aim to
show your ads as much as possible until your budget is met.
 When your budget is reached, your ads will typically stop showing for that day. How quickly
your ads are shown during a given day is determined by your ad delivery option.
 It's possible that you'll be charged less or sometimes slightly more than your average daily
budget amount on a given day. To help make sure that your ad can run a little more on days
when it's very popular, your daily budget is used like an average: on any single day, you can
receive up to 20% more in costs than your daily budget, but other days will be capped at a
lower amount to make up for it. This is called overdelivery.
 However, in a given billing period, you're never charged more than the average number of days
in a month (roughly 30.4) times your daily budget. For campaigns that are paused in the middle
of the month or that otherwise don't run for the full month, you may see discrepancies
between your average daily budgets and your total charges.
Understanding bidding basics
AdWords gives you several ways to bid for your ads, depending on what matters most to you and
your business. Most advertisers focus on clicks, impressions, or conversions.
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Now that you're advertising on AdWords, you probably have a clear goal in mind for your ads. If you
sell coffee, maybe you want to get more people to visit your shop. If you run a hiking club, maybe
you're aiming to get more people to sign up for your newsletter. And so on.
Knowing what you want your ads to do will help you decide how to bid.
Tip:
AdWords runs an auction every single time it has an ad space available -- on a search result, or on
a blog, news site, or some other page. Each auction decides which AdWords ads will show at that
moment in that space. Your bid puts you in the auction.
You can focus on three different things when you bid: clicks, impressions, or conversions. Which
would you choose? Let's look at these more closely.
Focus on clicks
If your main goal is to have people visit your website, then clicks are a good place to start. Use cost-
per-click (CPC) bidding and you'll pay only when someone actually clicks on your ad and comes to
your site.
CPC bidding gives you these choices:
 Automatic bidding
This is the easiest way to bid. Set a daily budget and let AdWords adjust your CPC bids to bring
you the most clicks possible within that budget.
 Manual bidding
Take full control of your CPC bids. Manual bidding lets you set bids at the ad group level, or for
individual keywords or ad placements, so you know you're bidding just what you want for the
clicks that mean the most to you.
Example:
If you run a hiking club in Vermont, you might want to bid a lot for direct-hit keywords like
"Vermont hiking" and a different amount for broader keywords like "hiking maps."
Focus on impressions
Instead of paying by the click, you can pay by the number of times your ad is shown, if your
campaign is targeting just the Display Network. That's called cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM)
bidding, since you pay for every 1,000 times your ad appears. If you're mostly interested in getting
your name or logo in front of lots of people, this is a smart option.
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CPM bidding, like CPC manual bidding, lets you set bids at the ad group level, or for individual
placements. Note that CPM bidding is only available for the following campaign types:
 "Display Network only - All features"
 "Display Network only - Remarketing"
Focus on conversions
With this advanced bidding method, you tell AdWords the amount you're willing to pay for a
conversion, or cost-per-acquisition (CPA). A conversion (sometimes called an acquisition) is a
particular action you want to see on your website. Often that's a sale, but it could be an email sign-
up or some other action. You pay for each click, but AdWords will automatically set your bids for you
to try to get you as many conversions as possible at the cost-per-acquisition you specified.
To use CPA bidding you must have conversion tracking turned on, among other things, so CPA
bidding is suited for intermediate and advanced AdWords users.
Submit billing information
To get your ads up and running, start by submitting your billing information. You might have several
ways to pay for AdWords, depending on your currency and the country where your business is
registered. See the options available to you using our payment options finder.
Submit your billing information
Once you've decided how you'd like to pay for AdWords, you're ready to submit your information.
Here's how you do it:
1. Sign in to your account at https://adwords.google.com

2. Click the gear icon and choose Billing preferences.
3. Select your country or the territory where your billing address is located from the drop-down
menu. You'll see all billing options that are available for your location and currency.
4. Make your selection, and follow the steps to enter your billing information.
When your ads will start running
For certain payment methods, your ads will be ready to start appearing on Google immediately after
you enter billing information. With other payment methods, it might take up to a week before ads
can begin running, due to payment verification and processing times. You'll see information in your
account about verification and processing times. Of course, other things can affect when your ads
start running, such as the ad approval process. Learn how to find out if your ad is running.
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Understanding your billing options
When setting up your payment information for AdWords, there are two things to keep in mind: Your
payment setting and your payment method.
 How you pay (payment setting): This is how you make your payments. Your choices are:
o Automatic payments: You're automatically charged after your ads run, either 30 days
after your last automatic charge or when you reach a preset amount (known as your
threshold), whichever comes first. You can also make payments at any time to control
your costs.
o Manual payments: Pay when you want for future costs. With this setting, you make a
payment before your ads run. Then, as your ads run and you accrue costs, the credit from
your payment will decrease. When your payment is used up, your ads will stop running.
o Monthly invoicing (credit line): Some businesses are eligible for a Google credit line if
they meet certain requirements. With this method, you accrue costs and receive a
monthly invoice. Then, you pay for these costs with a check or bank transfer. Your
payments are within a timeframe that you've agreed to with Google, according to terms
and conditions. Contact your AdWords online specialist for more details or learn more
about monthly invoicing.
 Your payment method: This is what you use to pay your bills, such as a credit or debit card.
The choices available to you will depend on your country (that is, the country of your
business address) and the currency you've selected for your AdWords account. See your
payment options.
Your invoices and payment information
By clicking the gear icon and choosing Billing, you can see your transaction history, settings,
payment methods, and billing profile information.
Here, you can view your transaction history detailing your AdWords costs and payments. Click an
invoice number to print your monthly invoice, available by the 5th day of the following month.
Your tax information
The taxes that are applied to your account depend on which country your billing address is located
in, as well as the currency you use in your account. To see which taxes apply to your location, visit
our taxes section in the Help Centre.
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Finding your first ads
After you've created your ads, it's important to make sure they're actually appearing to customers.
You can use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool, and check your account statistics, to figure out
whether your ads are up and running.
 Option 1: Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to see exactly what your text ads look like on
Google search results. Just visit http://www.google.com/AdPreview and choose the
appropriate options at the top to see exactly which ads are being triggered by the search term
you enter in any given location. You'll get more specific diagnostic information if you sign in to
your AdWords account first, but you can still use the tool without signing in.
Why use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool instead of searching for your own ad on
Google.com?
By performing searches that trigger your ad, you'll accumulate impressions without clicks,
which can lower your clickthrough rate and prevent your ad from appearing as often as it
should. Also, if you repeatedly look for your own ad using Google search but never click on it,
you might stop seeing it entirely. That's because Google's system stops showing you ads that it
thinks you aren't interested in.
 Option 2: Make sure your ad is enabled

Sign into your AdWords account, click your Ads tab and look for a green circle next to your ad.
Paused ads will have a "paused" sign next to them. You can change your ad from "Paused" to
"Enabled" status by clicking on the paused sign and selecting the green circle from the drop-
down.
 Option 3: Check your account stats to see if your ads are receiving traffic from customers. Sign
into your AdWords account, and click the Campaigns tab. On each tab, you'll see statistics that
show detailed information about your clicks, impressions, clickthrough rates, and much more.
Remember, though, AdWords reporting isn't real-time. This means you may not see clicks and
impressions you've received in the last three hours.
 Option 4: Visit the Keywords tab
Make sure your keywords are triggering ads. Click the speech bubble icon in the "Status"
column to get information about whether a keyword is triggering your ads to appear.
 Option 5: Troubleshoot
Use our trouble shooter to find other reasons why you might not be able to see your ad.
Tip:
It's normal for your ad to not show every time. We'll typically spread your ad views over the
course of the day. Once you start to reach your daily budget, we'll slow or stop your ad delivery.
If you want the ad to show more often, consider increasing your budget.
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More considerations when you're trying to find your ad
There are many things that determine when and where your ad appears. Here are some of the main
ones:
Targeting: Your ad will typically show only to people you've targeted, generally meaning people who
are searching for your keywords in the language and location you've selected. If you're trying to find
your ad, you may not see it if your settings are different from the ones you're targeting. For
example, if you're searching from a computer in San Francisco but your ad targets Los Angeles; your
ad won't appear in your search. By using the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool, however, you can
choose any location targeting settings to successfully preview your ad.
Ad approval review: While some ads may run on Google Search Network pages before being
reviewed to see if they comply with our advertising policies, others may not run at all until they've
been reviewed. If your ad is approved, it'll begin to run and you'll see impressions in your account
statistics. You can check the approval status of each ad by looking at the Status column on
the Ads tab of your AdWords account.
Ad position: If your ad rank isn't high enough, your ad might not appear on the first page of Google
search results. Your ad rank is determined by the quality of your ad (your Quality Score) and the
maximum cost-per-click bid you've set. Google doesn't show the same ads on each page, so your ad
may appear on the second or third or subsequent page. Learn more about how ad position is
determined.
Get familiar with your account
Navigating your AdWords account
If you're new to AdWords, we want to make sure you feel comfortable getting around in your
account. Take a few minutes to explore the four main tabs: Home, Campaigns, Opportunities,
and Tools. Also check out the gear menu where you can find the Billing and Account
settings options. Click the gear icon to find the menu.
The main tabs
 Home: This contains your Account Snapshot page, an easy-to-read summary of important
account information.
 Campaigns: Here's where you'll spend most of your time when you're managing your AdWords
account. You can create and edit campaigns, ads, keywords, and campaign settings. In the
performance summary graphs at the top of the page, you'll see an overview of how your
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campaigns are performing. You can also download the tables containing your performance
metrics as reports.
 Opportunities: Find new keywords; improve your bids and budgets, and more. The
Opportunities tab can help you get more out of AdWords — it's an entire section dedicated to
helping you improve your campaigns.
 Tools: Find account tools that will help you manage and improve your account. Use advanced
reporting tools to locate potential issues and fix them before they become issues.
The gear menu
 Billing: Enter and change your billing details, see your entire billing history, and print invoices.
 Account settings: Control your personal information, such as your sign-in information and user
preferences. If you choose to, you can use this option to invite a friend or colleague to manage
your AdWords account.
 Send feedback: Share your comments or suggestions to improve AdWords.
 Help: Find answers to your AdWords questions and information on how to contact us.
Create ads and campaigns
Learn about the building blocks of your AdWords account: campaigns, ad groups, and ads. Find out
how to set up a campaign that meets your business goals, and how to use ad groups to organize
your ads. Choose from different types of ads to attract the right customers.
Set up a new campaign
Choosing the campaign type that's right for you
 Learn about the different campaign types and networks

 Determine which campaign type best suits your business goals
 Discover features for the different campaign sub-types
 Find out when you can change campaign types
About campaign types
As you get started with your campaign setup, you'll be asked to pick a campaign type and campaign
sub-type. The campaign type (“Search Network only,” “Display Network only,” or “Search Network
with Display Select”) determines where customers will be able to see your ads. The campaign sub-
type (for example, “Standard” or “All features”) determines which settings and options are available,
such as the types of ads you can design. These options let you tailor your campaign to match your
business goals and focus on the features most relevant to you.
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Campaign types are centered around Google’s advertising networks: the Google Search
Network and the Google Display Network. These networks make up all of the places where your ads
can appear, including Google sites, websites that show relevant Google ads, and other placements
like mobile apps. You’ll choose a network setting by selecting a campaign type for your campaign.
You can choose from the following campaign types targeting these networks:
 “Search Network only”

 “Display Network only”
 “Search Network with Display Select” (a combination of both networks)
Note about the "Shopping" campaign type
If you have a Google Merchant Center account and want to use Product Listing Ads to promote
your products on the Google Search Network and Google Shopping (in select countries), choose
the “Shopping” campaign type.
Here’s a comparison of each campaign type to help you choose the right one for you:
Search Network with

Display Select
(Recommended for newer
Search Network only Display Network only advertisers)
Where Ads can show next to Ads can show throughout

your search results throughout Google’s Display Network, Ads can show with:
ads Google’s Search Network, made up of more than a
 Search results on
appear which includes: million different possible
the Search Network
 Google Search placements, including:
 Relevant placements
 Shopping  Websites that show
within the Display
 Google Maps relevant Google ads
Network, including:
 Groups  Videos
o Websites that
 Non-Google search  Apps
show relevant
sites (like AOL) that  Gmail
Google ads
partner with Google  YouTube
o Videos
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to show search ads,  Blogger o Apps

called search  Google Finance o Gmail
partners. This option  Google Maps o YouTube
is selected by o Blogger
default, but you can o Google Finance
deselect it in your o Google Maps
campaign settings.
How it
works Ads are matched to search Your ads are matched to If you select this option,
results pages based on the websites and other your budget will be shared
terms or phrases someone placements, like mobile across both networks.
searches. apps, when your keywords However, compared to
are related to a site’s Display Network only
For example, a search on content or the interests of campaigns, your ads are
Google for "home a user browsing a site. shown more selectively on
plumbing repair" might the Display Network.
show an ad that uses that You can also choose to They’ll be shown to
phrase as a keyword. target specific sites, pages customers who are
about specific topics, browsing sites related to
demographic groups, and your keywords and who
more. are most likely to make a
purchase.
More about this campaign

type.
Availabl Text ads Text, image, rich media, Text, image, rich media,
e ad and video ads and video ads
formats
When  You want your ads to  Recommended for  Recommended for

to appear next to more experienced newer AdWords
choose Google search results AdWords advertisers advertisers
it  You only want to  You want to reach  You want to continue
reach customers customers while advertising on
searching for your they’re browsing Google Search and
specific product or online also branch out to
service  You’re interested in reach customers as
building awareness they browse the web
for your brand across  You'd like to apply
a large audience your remaining
Search Network
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budget to advertising
on the Display
Network
Exampl
e You have a small but busy You work for a record You run a car repair
home repair business that label and want to increase service.
earns the most revenue exposure for a new band
from plumbing repairs. or get more ticket sales. You choose a "Search
Network with Display
A "Search Network only" A “Display Network only” Select" campaign so your
campaign type with campaign lets you reach ads can reach people in
“Standard” settings lets people visiting music- more places who are
you skip all of the themed sites, such as seeking out your services,
advanced settings and just blogs about live shows or whether they’re looking
target your text ads sites that review new on Google Search or
towards high potential music. checking out a car service
customers searching for review site.
home plumbing services.
Choosing a campaign sub-type
Next, you'll choose a more specific campaign sub-type, such as “Standard” or “All features.” Here we
explain these sub-types, along with a side-by-side comparison of features.
Tip
Not sure which sub-type to choose?
If you prefer a simpler overview of your campaign and feature options, consider using the
“Standard” campaign subtype. Use “All features” if you want to see everything about your
campaign and feature options.
“Search Network only” campaigns
Campaign
subtype
(“Standard” or
“All features”) Description Available features Unavailable features
Search Network Keyword-targeted  Basic location  Advanced social

text ads showing on targeting and
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only - Standard the Google Search  Basic bidding and experimental

Network. budget settings settings
 Common ad  Ad scheduling
extensions to include and ad delivery
a phone number, method options
URL, location, or  Advanced
social link. location options
 Language targeting  Mobile app
extensions
 Advanced
keyword
matching
 IP exclusions
 Dynamic
tracking URLs
Search Network Keyword-targeted  All the standard  None

only - All features text ads showing on settings, plus ad
the Google Search delivery methods,
Network. and all ad extensions
“Display Network only” campaigns
Unavailable
Campaign subtype Description Available features features
Display Network only - Text, image, rich  Basic location  None

All features (Standard media, and video ads targeting
not available) showing on the  Basic bidding and
Google Display budget settings
Network.  Common ad
extensions to include a
phone number, URL,
location, or social link
 Language targeting
 Option to target by
operating systems,
device models,
carriers, and wireless
networks
 Ad delivery methods,
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and all ad extensions
“Search Network with Display Select” campaigns
Campaign
subtype
(“Standard”
or “All
features”) Description Available features Unavailable features
Search Keyword-targeted  Basic location  The Display

Network with text ads showing on targeting Network tab, which
Display Select the Google Search  Basic bidding and includes targeting
-Standard Network and budget settings methods such as
Google Display  Common ad managed placements,
Network extensions to topics, remarketing,
include a phone interest categories,
number, URL, demographics, and
location, or social site category options
link.  Advanced social and
 Language targeting experimental settings
 Ad scheduling and ad
delivery method
options
 Advanced location
options
 Mobile app extensions
 Advanced keyword
matching
 IP exclusions
 Dynamic tracking URLs
Search Keyword-targeted  All the standard  Interest category,

Network with text ads showing on settings, plus ad gender, age, parental
Display the Google Search delivery methods, status, and topic
Select- All Network. Also and all ad targeting
features includes text, extensions
image, rich media,  The Display
and video ads Network tab, which
showing on the includes targeting
Google Display methods such as
Display keywords,
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Network. placements,
remarketing, and
site category
options.
Specialized campaign types
Here are some additional campaign sub-types that can provide more ways to help you reach your
potential customers:
Campaign Available with

sub-type Description campaign types
Dynamic  Search
Search Ads Ads use the content of your website - not keywords - to Network
target searches. Dynamic Search Ads look like text ads, but only
headlines are dynamically generated from the search phrase
and your website content, and landing pages are dynamically
selected from pages on your website.
Mobile apps  Display

Image and text ads show on the Google Display Network and Network
AdMob network in mobile applications on Android and iOS only
devices.
Remarketing  Display
Text, image, or video ads show to people who have already Network
visited your website when they browse other sites on the only
Google Display Network.
Engagement  Display
Engagement ads are a suite of interactive, rich media ad Network
formats that show on the Google Display Network. only
Examples of engagement ads:
 Light box ads

 Hover-to-Play ads
Changing campaign types

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Changing campaign types can affect your campaign's performance and ad serving, or hide and
deactivate certain features. We've disabled the option to change between some kinds of campaign
types to help you avoid these issues:
Change in campaign type Allowed
“Display Network only” to “Search Network with Display Select” Not allowed
“Display Network only” to “Search Network only” Not allowed
“Search Network only” to “Search Network with Display Select” Allowed
“Search Network only” to “Display Network only” Not allowed
“Search Network with Display Select” to “Search Network only” Allowed
“Search Network with Display Select” to “Display Network only” Not allowed
Keep in mind
While you’re able to switch your campaign sub-type from your campaign settings, we don’t
recommend doing so as you may inadvertently hide some features and reports that you're
currently using.
For campaign types you can change, follow these steps:
1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

2. Click the Campaigns tab.
3. Under All online campaigns, click the name of the campaign you'd like to edit.
4. Click the Settings tab.
5. Click Edit next to "Type," under "General."
6. Choose a campaign type to switch to, then click Save.
Choose your bid and budget
To run your ads on Google, you'll need to decide on the right campaign budget and ad group bids.
Your budget establishes a charging limit for an individual campaign, so it should be the average
amount you'd be comfortable spending per day (or seeing on your monthly credit card bill if you
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multiplied your budget by 30.4, the average number of days in a month). Your actual costs may be
lower, depending on how you manage your bids.
Your maximum cost-per-click bid (max. CPC bid) is the most you're willing to pay for a click on your
ad. By managing your bids, you may influence the amount of traffic your ads receive, as well as
the ROI they generate. With higher bids, your campaign is likely to receive more traffic, although
you'll likely spend more money. With lower bids, your campaign is likely to receive fewer clicks and
conversions.
Here you'll learn the steps for setting your bid and budget in a new campaign, and how to estimate
how much you'll spend.
Steps to set your bid and budget for a new campaign:
1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com

3. Click All online campaigns, then click the + Campaign button and choose a campaign type from
the drop-down.
4. In the Bid strategy section of your campaign settings, select a strategy. If you choose the
"manual" option, enter a Default bid as well.
5. For Budget, the amount you enter should be the most you're willing to spend on your
campaign on average per day over a month. You can also apply a shared budget that you've
previously created in the Shared library.
6. Click Save and Continue (on the next settings page, you'll be prompted to create and save your
ad group).
7. You may edit your bid strategy and budget again at any time by returning to your
campaign's Settings tab.
About your campaign bidding options
When many people think of an auction, they often think of a prize being sold for the highest bid. But
our ad auction uses both quality and bid to determine your ad's position. So even if your
competition bids higher than you, you can still win a higher position -- at a lower price -- with highly
relevant keywords and ads. You'll often pay less than your maximum bid, because with the ad
auction the most you'll pay is what's minimally required to hold your ad position and any ad formats
shown with your ad, such as sitelinks. The amount you pay is called your actual CPC.
There are two basic bid strategies (for advanced details, see determining a bid strategy based on
your goals):
 Manual bidding: This is the default strategy to let you manage your maximum CPC bids
yourself. You can set bids at the ad group level, or for individual keywords.
 Automatic bidding: If you're new to AdWords (or if you're busy), we recommend this strategy.
All you have to do is set an average daily budget, and the AdWords system manages your bids
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for you, to bring you the most clicks possible within your budget. You can still set a max. CPC
with this option.
With manual bidding, your ad group's Default bid amount will be applied to all keywords in your
new campaign's ad group. You may change your bid amount at any time. You also may change this
value for individual keywords via the Max CPC column on the Keywords tab.
Tip:
Try Keyword Planner to get traffic estimates, like estimated clicks, estimated impressions, or
estimated average CPCs for your keywords. These estimates can help guide your decision on
which bids and budgets to set.
Setting bid adjustments
You can set bid adjustments that increase or decrease your bids when your ad is competing to
appear on mobile devices, in specific locations, and at particular days and times. Bid adjustments can
give you more control over when and where your ad appears, and are applied on top of your existing
bids. You can also customize your bidding strategy by setting multiple adjustments that work
together, such as location and time of day, or time of day and mobile devices.
About your campaign budget
Your budget amount is for a single campaign (as opposed to a total amount across all your
campaigns), and it represents the average amount you're willing to spend per day in that campaign.
If you want to check your average daily budget across all campaigns, you can use the "Budget"
column under the Campaigns tab. If you prefer thinking of your budget in monthly terms rather than
in daily terms, you can calculate your monthly budget by multiplying your average daily budget by
30.4 (the average number of days per month).
Tip
Start small. If you're a beginner, try a daily budget of US$10 to US$50. Check your account daily
after applying a new budget to see how your campaigns have performed.
Because customer traffic fluctuates from day to day, Google may allow up to 20% more clicks (or
other ad activity for campaigns on another bidding option) in one day than your average daily
budget specifies. We call this overdelivery.
However, our system makes sure that in a given billing period, you're never charged more than 30.4
multiplied by your daily budget amount. For example, if you budget $10 per day, the maximum you
would pay is $304.
If Google shows your ads too often and your costs for the month end up exceeding what you should
have paid in a month given the daily budget you've set, a credit will automatically be applied to your
account. For instance, if your monthly charging limit is $304, and you've accrued $310 in costs in a
given billing period, you'll receive a credit for $6 and only be charged $304.
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Choose your location and language settings
You can help ensure that your ads reach the customers you want. Use location and language
settings to have your ads appear to customers in your targeted geographic locations, or to
customers who have selected your targeted language as their interface language.
With your location settings, you can target the geographic areas where your ads can appear. For
example, if you own an e-commerce store in the United States and you want to target the state of
California, you can use your location settings to do just that.
Your language settings allow you to put your ads on Google products and third-party websites in the
languages that your customers speak.
Example
Let's say that you own a business in Norway and you've targeted your ads to the country of
Norway, and set your target language to Norwegian. This means that your ads can appear on
Google for customers in Norway who have set Norwegian as their interface language.
How to choose your location and language settings:

2. In the left hand panel, click All online campaigns.
3. Click the + Campaign button.
4. You'll be taken to a page where you'll be able to update your campaign settings. Look for the
section titled "Locations and Languages."
5. To target locations, you have the option to:
Select a location from the listed options...
Or enter a location in the search box.
6. To edit your target language, click Edit in the "Languages" section.
7. Check the boxes next to the languages that you'd like to target.
8. After you choose the rest of your campaign settings, click Save and continue.
To set languages for multiple campaigns at the same time:

2. Click the Campaigns tab at the top.
3. Click the Settings sub-tab.
4. Check the box next to any campaigns that you want to change.
5. From the Edit menu, select Advanced settings > Language….
6. In the box that appears, choose the languages you want for your selected campaigns.
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7. Optional: We recommend you click Preview changes to see how your campaigns’ languages
will change.
8. Click Make changes.
Tip:
While on the campaign settings tab, you can click Filter to show only campaigns that match
specific criteria. This can make it easier to make changes in bulk to certain campaigns.
Here's how to set location targeting for multiple campaigns at the same time:
 Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

 Click the Campaigns tab at the top.
 Click the Settings sub-tab.
 Check the box next to any campaigns that you want to change.
 From the Edit menu, select Location….
 In the box that appears, choose whether you would like to add locations to the selected
campaigns or replace the locations of those campaigns.
 Then type a location in the text field. After you select a location, additional text fields will
appear where you can add more locations.
 Optional: We recommend you click Preview changes to see how your campaign’s location will
change.
 Click Make changes.
Tip
While on the campaign settings tab, you can click Filter to show only campaigns that match
specific criteria. This can make it easier to make changes in bulk to certain campaigns.
Choose an ad format
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The text ads that appear alongside Google search results are just one type of ad format you can
create with AdWords. You can also promote your products and services with video ads, image ads,
WAP mobile ads, app or digital content ads, and more.
Each ad format has its own benefits, whether it's the ease and affordability of running a text ad, or
the colourful storytelling that comes with video. You can run multiple kinds of ads from the same
AdWords account and, in some cases, from the same campaign.
Ad formats available in an AdWords account
Format Description Main

benefits
Text Maintain
Words only. * ads quickly
and easily.
Boston's Best Bonsais
Reach
Ad www.example.com customers
when they
Florist And Indoor Plant Nursery.
search on
Spruce Up Your Desk Today!
Google.
Ad Extends your ads with more information, such as additional links to Provide
extensions your website, store address, or phone number. These formats usually additional
appear only across the Search Network. However, location details and
extensions and call extensions may also appear across the Google contact
Display Network. information
that can
Amherst Ice Cream Parlour make your
Ad www.example.com ads more
relevant to
(413) 123-4567 customers.
Our specialty is pistachio. You can opt
English majors, buy 1 get 1 free. to extend
your ad for
100 Dardanelles Rd, Amherst MA mobile
devices
differently
than how
you extend
your ad for
tablets and
computers.
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Image Static or interactive graphics. Animated ads in .gif and Flash format Showcase
can be used. your
product or
service in a
visual way.
Reach
customers
on
websites
that
partner
with
Google.
WAP Create text or image ads for WAP mobile devices. Connect
mobile with
Note: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a standard for accessing customers
information over a wireless network for mobile devices. on-the-go,
targeting
your ads
based on
their
location.
App Drive app downloads with app promotion ads. Send your
promotion customers
ads straight to
an online
app store,
such as
Google Play
Market or
the Apple
App Store.
Note: Ads
will appear
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only on
devices
compatible
with your
content.
Video Video ads that show online. Run standalone video ads or insert them Deliver a
in streaming video content. rich and
engaging
experience
to
customers.
Reach
customers
on
websites
that
partner
with
Google.
Product Text ads that contain product features and pricing information. Goes Encourage
Listing Ads to a product purchase page on your website. your
customers
to learn
about the
products
that you
sell before
they click
to your
website.
* Text ads might look different on the Display Network.
Campaign types and ad formats
The ad formats available to you depend on your campaign type (Search Network only, Display
Network only, Search Network with Display Select, Search & Display Networks) and campaign sub-
type (for example, Standard or All features). Learn more about the different campaign types
available.
Here you can see which ad formats are available with each campaign type.
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Campaign type Text Image App/digital WAP Product Dynamic Video

ad ad content ad mobile Listing Search ad
ad Ad Ad
Search
Network with
Display Select -
Standard
Search
Network with
Display Select -
All features
Search
Network only -
Standard
Search
Network only -
All features
Search
Network only -
Dynamic search
ads
Display
Network only -
All features
Display
Network only -
Mobile apps
Display
Network only -
Remarketing
Keep in mind
If you select “Search Network with Display Select - All features” or any of the “Display Network
only” campaign types, you’ll have access to the Ad gallery, an ad-creation tool. However, the
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actual ad formats available to you in the Ad gallery depend on the specific campaign type you
select. Learn more about the Ad gallery.
Steps to choose an ad format
1. Select the campaign and ad group in which you want to create your new ad.
2. Click the Ads tab.
3. Click the + Ad dropdown button.
4. Choose the format of the ad you'd like to create and complete the instructions specific to that
ad format.
5. Click Save ad.
After you've saved your ad, you should see your new ad listed in the Ads tab. However, ads may not
run until they're reviewed or approved, which can take seconds or days depending on the format.
Choose your keywords and placements
Once you choose your campaign settings, you can create your first ad group and ad. For each ad
group, you'll need to add keywords and placements (websites). Depending on the type of campaign
and ad format you created, your keywords and placements will be used to show your ads.
It's important to keep in mind that certain campaign types and ad formats use keywords and
placements, while others (like Product Listing Ads or Dynamic Search Ads) use different ways to
target your ads. This means any keywords and placements you add to an ad group that includes such
ad formats won't be used to show those ads.
Why add keywords to your ad group?
Your ads can appear on sites that are part of the Google Search Network, like Google Search and
Shopping, when people search using the keywords you choose. AdWords also uses these keywords
to find relevant sites on the Google Display Network to show your ads. So whether you want to show
your ads to people as they search on the web, or when they visit websites they're interested in,
selecting keywords is an essential part of your campaign.
Tips
 When selecting keywords, put yourself in your customer's shoes and think about the words
they'd use to search for your products or services.
 Each keyword phrase should include two to three words.
 Choose specific keywords instead of general ones so you can show your ads to the most
interested users (such as "leather running shoes" instead of simply "shoes").
 Try starting with a list of 10 to 20 keywords per ad group.
The good news is that you can always change your keywords later, as you find out which keywords
are or aren't working for your ads.
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How to add keywords
If you've selected a "Search Network with Display Select," "Search & Display Networks," "Search
Network only," or "Display Network only" campaign, then you can add keywords as you create your
ad group.

2. If this is your first campaign: Click Create your first campaign. Your first campaign is assigned
to the "Search & Display Networks" campaign type, which we recommend for new advertisers.
If you want to change your new campaign to the “Search Network only” or “Display Network
only” campaign type, you can do that here.
If you've created a campaign before: Click the + Campaign button on the Campaigns tab.
Then, select the campaign type you want to use: "Search Network with Display Select," "Search
and Display Networks," "Search Network only," or "Display Network only."
3. Select your campaign settings and click Save and continue.
4. On the "Create ad group" section, simply type one keyword (which can include multiple words)
per line in the text box. If you enter a URL in your ad, you'll see a list of keyword ideas to the
right of this box. Click the add link next to any keyword you'd like to add to your ad group.
You can get an instant estimate of how many people use each keyword you add by clicking
the Estimate search traffic button below the text box.
Why add placements to your ad group?
Adding specific placements to your ad group can help you show your ads on the Display Network
websites you want. For example, if you sell soccer shoes and you want your ad to appear on two
popular soccer websites, you can add those two sites to your ad group.
How to add placements
If you've selected a "Display Network only," "Search Network with Display Select – All features," or
"Search & Display Networks" campaign from the Campaign type menu, you can add placements as
you create your ad group.
1. On the ad group creation page, select Use a different targeting method.

2. Open the Select a targeting method dropdown and choose Placements.
3. If you have specific placements in mind for your ads, click "Add multiple placements at once."
You can add as many as you want, one per line. If you need placement ideas, enter a word,
phrase, or website below the "Search for placement ideas" header.
Create and manage more than one campaign

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Did you know that an AdWords account can contain as many as 10,000 campaigns (includes active
and paused campaigns) per account, 20,000 ad groups per campaign, and 50 text ads per ad group?
That's a lot to manage! Fortunately, you can manage your campaigns and ads from just two places in
your account. The Ads and Campaigns tabs (both under your main Campaigns tab) are where you
can view and edit your campaigns and ads. You can even change settings for multiple campaigns at
once and make new ads based on existing ads.
What you can do in your Campaigns and Ads tabs
The Campaigns and Ads tabs are the two locations in your account where you'll spend a lot of your
time.
Here are just a few of the things you can do in these locations:
 See everything, from costs to clicks, at a glance.

 Sort campaigns and ads based on budget, clicks, and other statistics.
 Make direct changes to your campaigns and ads when you click the pencil icon.
 Drill deeper to the settings or keywords associated with a campaign or ad.
 Make changes to multiple campaigns or ads through the Edit drop-down menu
Copy campaigns
If you’ve already set up a successful campaign, you can use it to get a head start on setup for your
next campaign. To do this, copy the campaign, then modify one of the copies. That way you start
with the same structure and settings for your ad groups, ads and keywords.
To duplicate a campaign:

3. Check the box next to the campaign you want to duplicate.
4. From the Edit menu, click Copy (or Control-C for PCs, Command-C for Macs).
5. Then, from the Edit menu, click Paste (or Control-V for PCs, Command-V for Macs).
6. Optional: In the dialog box that appears, check the box next to “Pause new campaign after
copying” to create new campaigns that are paused. Otherwise, any copies of campaigns that
were active when copied will be active when pasted.
7. Click Paste.
You will now have a new campaign that will have the same structure and settings as your original
campaign. However, it will not have any campaign, keyword or ad history. If you want to keep both
campaigns active, we recommend keeping your original campaign running (so it continues with the
history it’s already generated) and modifying the new campaign.
Change settings for multiple campaigns at once

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From your Campaigns tab, you can edit individual campaigns directly as well as change the settings
for multiple campaigns at once. Here are the settings that can be changed for multiple campaigns at
once:
 Status
 Location targeting
 Budget
 Campaign end date
 Ad rotation
 Delivery method
 Language
 Ad schedule
Here's how to change settings for multiple campaigns at one time:

2. From the All online campaigns page, click the Settings tab.
3. Select the checkboxes next to the campaign whose settings you want to change.
Tip
Create a filter to show just the campaigns with the settings you want to change. Just click
the Filter drop-down menu, choose the settings you want to filter by, then click Apply. Then you
can select all of the filtered campaigns at once by checking the box in the top corner of the table.
1. Click the Edit drop-down menu at the top of the table.
2. Choose the setting you want to change for the campaigns you selected. Scroll over “Additional
settings” to see more options.
3. Specify the changes to the setting you selected in the box that appears. Click Preview
changes to review the changes you’re about to make. When you’re ready, click Make changes.
Here's how you change the campaign status of multiple campaigns at once:
1. On the All online campaigns page, select the checkboxes next to the campaigns you want to
edit.
2. Click the Edit drop-down menu at the top of the table.
3. Select the new status.
Copy Ads
To copy ads to another ad group:

3. Go to the Ads tab.
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4. Check the boxes next to the ads you would like to copy. Then, from the Edit drop-down menu,
choose Copy (or Control-C for PCs, Command-C for Macs).
5. Go to the Ad groups tab.
6. Click on the ad group where you want to put the copied ads.
7. From the Edit drop-down menu, choose Paste (or Control-V for PCs, Command-V for Macs).
8. Optional: In the dialog box that appears, check the box next to “Pause new ads after copying”
to create new ads that are paused. Otherwise, any copies of ads that were active when copied
will be active when pasted.
9. Click Paste
Sort your campaigns and ads
To sort your campaigns or ads, simply click the heading of the column you want to sort. Columns can
have different sorting rules. For example, when you click the Campaigns column to sort your
campaigns, it'll sort in alphabetical or reverse-alphabetical order. When you click on columns that
contain numerical statistics, it'll sort by the largest or smallest numbers.
Using Display Planner to get targeting ideas and traffic estimates
Display Planner is a free AdWords tool that you can use to plan your Display Network ad campaigns.
You’ll just need a few basic details to get started, like your customers’ interests or your landing page.
Display Planner then generates targeting ideas along with impression estimates and historical costs
to guide your plan.
You can save your plan directly to your AdWords account as a new campaign or as an addition to an
existing campaign or ad group. You also have the option to download your plan to review or add at a
later time.
Why use Display Planner
 Ideas to help you get started. Ideas for keywords, placements, and all other Display Network
targeting methods help you plan your campaign.
 Impression estimates and historical costs to guide your decisions. Estimates show how ideas
may perform based on past results. Historical costs point you to ideas within your budget and
help you set bids for ideas you adopt.
 A plan you can share. One-click download makes it easy to export your plan and share it with
clients and colleagues.
Display Planner makes it easy for you to develop a great AdWords campaign by finding places that
your audience is likely to visit and suggesting new ways to connect with them.
Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

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1. Click the Tools tab and select "Display Planner."
2. Go to the section “Get ideas and estimates” and enter one or more of the following:
o What interests your customers, such as keywords, categories, or sites related to your
brand or the product you want to sell. Tip: If you have a very specific goal and want to
narrow your ideas, enter multiple details. To explore available network inventory and get
a diverse set of ideas, enter fewer details.
o Landing page of what you plan to advertise, like a brand or product page.
o The location and language of your customers.
o Whether your campaign goal is direct response (you want customers to click through to
your website or make a purchase) or brand (you want customers to see your brand
message or be aware of your products).
3. Click Get ad group ideas or Get placement ideas. You’ll see ideas based on the details you’ve
provided, along with impression estimates and historical costs.
In the Individual targeting ideas tab, you’ll find keyword, interest, topic, placement,
demographic, and remarketing ideas. Close by in the Ad group ideas tab, these targeting ideas
have been grouped into ready-made ad groups.
4. Click the double arrows » next to an ad group idea or individual targeting idea you want to add
to your plan. As you add ideas, they’ll appear under "Your plan."
The first idea you add to your plan creates a new ad group under “Your plan.” You can continue
to add ideas to this particular ad group. Or, create additional ad groups by clicking the “+”
symbol.
If you want to edit your ad groups, click the ad group until it’s highlighted and then add or
remove specific targeting ideas. The estimates will update as you add and remove ideas.
Tip: When adding ideas, organize your plan just as you would organize a campaign in AdWords
by creating ad groups based on tight themes.
5. Optional: Filter the ideas you see by changing details at the top of Display Planner or adding
additional targeting and filters in the left panel. Note that doing so will update the ideas and
estimates you see. Optional targeting and filters include:
o Ad scheduling: Filter ideas by dates and times when you’ll be scheduling your ads to run.
o Campaign exclusions: Filter ideas to remove unwanted or irrelevant targeting like certain
keywords or placements.
o Ad sizes and formats: Filter ideas by the types of ad creative you want to use with this
campaign.
6. Click the Review plan button to see a summary of your plan.
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7. Click Save to account to add the plan to your account or Download to download it.
o Save to account lets you add your plan as a new campaign, to an existing campaign, or to
an existing ad group. You can then manage the campaign from the Display Network tab in
AdWords.
o Download generates a CSV file that you can later upload to AdWords, AdWords Editor,
or Display Planner. If you upload your plan to AdWords or AdWords Editor, remember
that you’ll still need to set up your campaign before it can run: choose settings, set bids,
pick a budget, and add your ad creative. If you upload your plan to Display Planner, you
can continue to tweak your plan to get new ideas or fresh estimates.
Set up ad groups
How ad groups work
An ad group contains one or more ads which target a shared set of keywords. You set a bid, or price,
to be used when an ad group's keywords trigger an ad to appear. This is called a cost-per-click
(CPC) bid. You can also set prices for individual keywords within the ad group. Use ad groups to
organize your ads by a common theme, such as the types of products or services you want to
advertise.
Keep stuff together that belongs together
Many advertisers find it helpful to base their ad groups on the sections or categories that appear on
their website. For example, let's say you build and repair lasers in your secret laboratory and then
sell them on your website.
In the table below, each ad group contains a keyword list focusing on a product you'd sell. The
keyword list in each ad group tells our system to show ads for these products only on websites
related to them.
Ad group: laser systems Ad group: laser gases Ad group: laser crystals
solid-state laser helium neon laser titanium laser crystal
solid state lasers helium neon lasers titanium laser crystals
gas laser argon laser chromium laser crystal

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gas lasers argon lasers chromium laser crystals
free-electron laser nitrogen laser neodymium laser crystal
free-electron lasers nitrogen lasers neodymium laser crystals
Create a new ad group
Within a given AdWords campaign, an ad group lets you easily manage the status and default bids
for one or more related ads as well as their shared set of keywords.
For example, let's say you own an art supplies shop. You could create a series of ads for all your
watercolor paints, and bundle them into a single ad group named "watercolors." From the "Ad
groups" tab, you could pause all your watercolor ads simultaneously (if you're temporarily sold out),
or increase the default bid of all their keywords to get more clicks.
Creating a new ad group in a campaign
If you don't have any campaigns yet, click Create a new campaign and follow the instructions on the
page to complete your ad group. If you create a "Search Network only - Standard" campaign, you
can add multiple ad groups on the "Create ad groups" page.
If you already have a campaign, follow these steps:

3. Under All online campaigns, click the name of the campaign that you'd like to add an ad group
to.
4. Click the Ad groups tab.
5. Click the + Ad group button.
6. On the "Create ad group" page that appears, follow the instructions to complete your new ad
group (you'll be given the chance to create an initial ad and its keywords).
7. Click Save ad group.
Once you've created your new ad group, you'll most likely want to fill it out with more ads and
keywords. You can do this by clicking on your ad group's name, then click on
its Ads or Keywords tabs.
Tips
 A single ad group may contain up to 50 text ads, and up to 20,000 individual targeting items
(individual targeting items include keywords, negative keywords, placements, audience lists,
and product targets). In turn, a single campaign may contain up to 20,000 ad groups.
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 Use keyword matching options to help control which search terms will trigger your ad to
appear. When you enter keywords, we'll make them broad match by default. This means your
ad is eligible to appear when someone searches for any variation of those keywords. To use the
other keyword matching options, you'll need to add special punctuation to your keywords. For
example, with the exact match option, you can make your ad eligible to show only when
someone searches for your exact keyword and nothing else. You just need to add brackets,
like [tennis shoes], to your keyword.
Editing your ad groups
In the table on the Ad groups tab, you can edit a single ad group by simply clicking on its status icon
or its bid in the "Default Max. CPC"column. To change the ad group's name, click the pencil icon that
appears when your cursor is next to the ad group's name. Note that if you click the ad group's name
instead, you'll jump to the Keywords tab. Regardless of which tab you're on, your ad group's details
are both visible and editable at the top of the page!
To "batch edit" in the table on the Ad groups tab, click the checkbox next to one or more ad groups
to enable the Edit button (or click the header row's checkbox to "Select all"). This enables you to edit
the status, name, and pricing for the selected ad groups.
Set your ad group default bid
An ad group is a collection of ads that are all triggered by a shared set of keywords. When you create
a new ad group, we'll prompt you to create an initial ad and its keyword list, and to enter a default
ad group bid (Max CPC). This default bid is a convenient way to manage the bids for all of the
keywords in your ad group. You can override the default ad group bid for individual keywords by
raising or lowering their Max CPC on the Keywords tab.
Setting your bid when creating a new ad group
3. Click the Ad groups tab under All online campaigns.
4. Click the + Ad group button.
5. Select a campaign, then complete the steps on the page that follows.
6. Click Save ad group.
Keyword-level bids override your ad group's default bid
If you set individual keyword or placement bids, the individual bids override the ad group default
bid. For example, if your default ad group bid is $0.50, but you increase one keyword's bid to $0.60,
the keyword bid applies any time that one keyword triggers your ad.
Set bid adjustments for your campaign

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You can set bid adjustments that increase or decrease your bids when your ad is competing to
appear on mobile devices, in specific locations, and at particular days and times. You can also set ad
group-level bid adjustments for targeting methods like topics or placements if your campaign is
running on the Display Network. Bid adjustments can give you more control over when and where
your ad appears.
With automatic bidding, we set the default bids for you
If you've chosen manual bidding for your campaign, you can edit your default bids at any time.
If you're a more hands-off account manager, then automatic bidding may be right for you. We set a
default based on your budget. It isn't possible to edit your ad group default bid with automatic
bidding; however, you can set a bid limit for automatic bidding, and change your campaign budget at
any time on the Settings tab.
Editing the default bid of one ad group

3. Under All online campaigns, click the name of the ad group.
4. At the top of the page, click Edit next to Ad group default bids.
5. Enter an amount for your ad group's Default bid.
6. Click Save.
Editing the default bid of multiple ad groups

3. Under All online campaigns, click the Ad groups tab.
4. Click any ad group's entry in the Default Max CPC column.
5. Enter an amount in the pop-up that appears.
6. Click Save.
Understanding your ad group status
About ad group status
Your ad group status lets you know whether your ad group is active or not.
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Ad group status is different than the statuses for campaigns, ads, and keywords, though the statuses
can affect each other. Ad groups are contained within a campaign, and each campaign can have one
or more ad groups. Within each ad group are ads, keywords, and bids.
Campaign Campaign
Ad Group Ad Group Ad Group Ad Group
Ads Ads Ads Ads

Keywords Keywords Keywords Keywords
This structure means that status changes at the campaign level will affect the statuses of the ad
groups, ads, and keywords within it. A status change at the ad group level will affect the ads and
keywords contained within it, and so on.
For example, if you pause your campaign, the ad groups within that campaign will inherit the same
paused status (as will the ads and keywords). However, if you pause an individual ad group in a
campaign containing multiple ad groups, that one ad group will be paused (along with the ads and
keywords it contains), while the remaining ad groups, ads, and keywords in the campaign will stay
enabled.
Note
Ad groups in Display Network campaigns can include targeting methods other than keywords,
like using demographics or remarketing lists. For this article, we’ll focus on ad groups for Search
Network campaigns.
Tip
Are your ads not running? Here are some of the most common reasons:
 You’ve deactivated an ad group or its “parent” campaign by pausing or removing it
 You’ve run out of funds
 You haven’t scheduled your ads to run
How to check your ad group's status

3. Click the Ad groups tab.
4. See the ad group status in the Status column.
5. You can click the “Status” heading to reorder your ad groups by status.
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What your ad group status means
Ad group What it means

status
Eligible This ad group’s set to run. It’s a good idea to check the Ads tab to see if policy
violations are keeping individual ads from running.
Paused You’ve temporarily stopped this ad group from showing ads. Its ads aren’t
running. You can resume the paused ad group to start ads again.
Removed You’ve removed this ad group. Its ads aren’t running. You can resume the
removed ad group to start ads again.
Incomplete You haven’t set up necessary parts of this ad group (like keywords or ads). Its ads
aren’t running.
Campaign You've paused this ad group’s campaign. Its ads aren’t running. You can resume
paused the paused campaignto start ads again.
Campaign You’ve removed this ad group’s campaign. Its ads aren’t running. You can resume
removed the removed campaign to start ads again.
Campaign The ad group isn't running because your prepaid account balance has run out.
suspended Your campaign and the ad groups within it will resume after you add funds. To do
this, click the gear icon , choose "Billing," and click "Make a payment."
Campaign This ad group’s in a campaign that’s passed its end date. Its ads aren’t running.
ended
Campaign You’ve scheduled this ad group’s campaign to start later. Its ads aren’t running
pending yet.
Text ads
Create a new text ad
 Create a new text ad

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 Text ads on mobile

 Share your text ads across ad groups
Text ads look like classified ads, and include a link to your website. Here's an example of a text ad on
the Search Network:
Create a new text ad
1. Select the campaign and ad group you'd like to add your new text ad to.
2. Then, enter a headline, short description, display URL, and landing page URL. As you type,
your ad will appear instantly in the Ad preview.
3. If you're adding an additional ad to an ad group, you'll have the option to create a mobile-
optimized ad. To do so, select the "Mobile" checkbox next to the "Device preference"
setting.
4. When you’re satisfied with your new text ad, click Save ad.
Before your saved ad starts showing to customers, we review its content and formatting to
make sure they meet our advertising policies.
Text ads on mobile
Let’s say your ad group contains both a standard text ad and a mobile-optimized text ad. On mobile
devices, your mobile-optimized text ad will be given preference over standard text ads. On
computers and tablets, your standard text ad will be given preference over mobile-optimized text
ads.
If your ad group contains only mobile-optimized text ads (which we don’t recommend), those ads
may appear on desktop or laptop computers as well as tablets.
A mobile-optimized ad will only be given preference over other ads of the same type. Text ads,
Dynamic Search Ads, Product Listing Ads, WAP mobile ads, and ads that can run only on the Display
Network are considered different ad types.
Example:
In a campaign promoting your haberdashery on both the Search and Display Networks, you have
an ad group with the following types of ads:
 Standard text ad promoting your online shop
 Mobile-optimized text ad promoting your storefront
 Standard image ad showcasing your hats
If Google determines that an image ad should be shown to someone browsing a Display Network
site on a mobile phone, then your standard image ad will be shown. Your mobile-optimized text
ad won't be shown because text ads and image ads are different types of ads.
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Keep in mind
On mobile devices, where space is tight, AdWords optimizes your ad to show the highest
performing text. If you have ad extensions that perform well on mobile, those may appear in
your ad to show potential customers the most relevant information.
Share ads across ad groups
If you use the same ad or ads in different ad groups, you can save time by using shared ads. Simply
create a central list with one text ad or multiple ads and add it to the ad groups that need it.
It's best to use this feature for ad groups that use ads with identical text.
Create a shared ad
1. Select the Campaigns tab.

2. Click the Shared library link in the left navigation bar.
3. Click Ads.
4. Click + List.
5. Name your ad list and enter a headline, short description, display URL, and landing page URL.
As you type, your ad will appear instantly in the Ad preview. Note that your ad will be eligible
to appear on all devices: desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
6. To add your list to one or more ad groups, click the Edit link in the "Add to ad groups" section
and select the campaigns and ad groups you'd like to add your list to.
7. Click Save.
Share the ad across ad groups

3. Click the + Ad drop-down menu and select "Use ads from library."
4. Select the ad group you'd like to add your shared ads to. Then, select the shared ad lists you'd
like to use for the ad group.
5. Click Save ad.
Modify your shared ads
Editing an ad is the same as creating a new ad and removing the old one, which means that your
edited ad will go through the usual approval process. Also, keep in mind that we'll reset your new
ad's performance statistics to zero.
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3. Click Ads and then the name of the list that you'd like to modify.
4. You'll see your ad list. Click + Ad to add a new ad, click the pencil icon to edit the ad text of
an existing ad, or click Remove to remove selected ads. If you're creating a new ad, enter a
headline, short description, display URL, and destination or final URL.
5. Click Save ad. Note that your new ad will be eligible to appear on all devices: desktop and
laptop computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
6. To share your list with additional ad groups, click Add to ad groups and select the ad groups
you'd like to share the list with. Then, click Save.
Keep in mind
If you have a list with multiple ads that's shared across multiple ad groups, changes that you
make to the ads will apply to all ad groups sharing the list.
Pause or resume your ad list
You can pause your ad list and corresponding ads for any period of time that you'd like, and you can
restart your list and ads when you want or remove them.

3. Click Ads and then the name of the list whose status you'd like to change.
4. Under the "Ad groups sharing this list" section, select the checkbox for the list whose status
you'd like to change.
5. Click the Edit list status drop-down menu and select Pause to pause your ad, Enable to resume
your ad, or Remove to remove it. Note that changes you make to your ad list will apply to all ad
groups sharing the list.
Tips for creating successful text ads
Successful text ads are specific, relevant, attractive, and empowering.
Writing tips for terrific text ads
Highlight what makes you unique

Free shipping? Dazzling variety? Tell people! Showcase the products, services,
or offers that make you competitive.
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Include prices, promotions, and exclusives

People often use Google search to make a decision about something. Give
them what they need to decide. If you have a limited-time discount or stock
an exclusive product, say so.
Empower customers to take action

Are you selling something? Tell people what they can buy. Are you offering a
service? Tell people how to contact you. Calls to action like purchase, call
today, order, browse, sign up, or get a quote make clear what the next steps
are.
Include at least one of your keywords

Keywords in your ad text show your ad’s relevance to what people want. For
example, if you've included digital cameras as a keyword, your ad headline
could be "Buy Digital Cameras."
Match your ad to your landing page

Have a look at the page that you're linking to from your ad (the landing page),
and make sure that the promotions or products in your ad are included there.
People might leave your website if they don’t find what they expect.
Appeal to customers on mobile

People looking at mobile ads are more likely to want to know where you are,
or to call you. Show your location and phone number with location
extensions and call extensions. Also, consider creating ads devoted to people
on mobile devices, using the mobile version of your website as a destination
URL, and offering specials suited to a mobile audience.
Experiment
Create three to four ads for each ad group, and use different messages for
each to see which does the best. AdWords rotates ads automatically to show
the best-performing ads more often.
Headline:
People are most likely to notice your headline text. Consider including keywords, which can match
what people are looking for. In the sample ad, above, the keyword "advertise" should get the
attention of people who are looking for ways to advertise online.
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Display URL:
The display URL , usually in green, shows the address of your website. This gives people an idea of
where they'll go when they click your ad. You can send people to a more specific part of that website
using a longer landing page URL, which AdWords doesn't display.
Description:
Use the description to highlight details about your product or service. On mobile, where space is
tight, AdWords sometimes shortens or removes description line 2. Learn more about how text ads
appear on mobile devices. Keep in mind that text ads on the Google Display Network might look
different.
Length limits
Max length Max length

(most languages) (double-width* languages)
Headline: 25 characters 12 characters
Display URL: 35 characters 17 characters
Description line 1: 35 characters 17 characters
Description line 2**: 35 characters 17 characters
*Double-width languages include languages (like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) with double-width
characters.
**The text in description line 2 may appear differently on mobile.
Longer text ads

You can make longer text ads if you're targeting people in Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Hong Kong,
Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, South Korea, Taiwan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, or Uzbekistan.
Using special characters with your ads
Most non-English characters, including tildes, umlauts, and cedillas, will appear correctly in your ads,
including within the display URL.
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For languages that use double-width characters (like Chinese, Japanese, or Korean), your text ads
appear on Google search results the same way that they appear in your account. It's a good idea to
preview your ads with the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool rather than searching on Google.
Image ads
Using the AdWords Ad gallery
The Ad gallery, formerly known as the display ad builder, is an ad-creation tool that offers various
display ad formats in different categories, such as image ads, dynamic ads, engagement ads, and
video ads, in any of your campaigns on the Google Display Network.
Here are some benefits of using the Ad gallery:
 Differentiated products and services

 More effective campaigns
 No-cost ad templates
 Customizable ad styles
 Industry-standard ad templates
Tips for creating effective display ads
If you're new to creating display ads that are focused on using images, or you'd like to improve your
display ad performance, we've got some tips to help you get the job done:
 Use text, images, and color schemes effectively

 Experiment with different display ad types and content designs
 Take advantage of templates within the Ad gallery
 Create your own custom images
 Generate display ads based on your existing text ads
Creating the ideal display ad
Display ads offer many options, so take the time to experiment with different templates, colors, and
content to get the best results. You want your ad to be a standout!
What makes a great display ad? Here are our top tips for creating effective display ads. Let's dive
into each of these tips, and look at some examples.
Be explicit about your call-to-action, in a button or somewhere else
This is especially important in image-based ads, because customers may not know what part of the
ad is clickable. In some cases, if your ad really blends in well with a site, they may not even realize
that your ad is an ad! Don't make them guess.
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People also want to know what they can do if they click your ad: "Learn more" or "Buy now." Help
them figure out what's in it for them if they click on your ad by letting them know up front.
Balanced ad content
Make sure your ad text and images are balanced within the body of the display ad and within the
overall ad size. Check your ad in each available ad size and resize any images as needed. We
recommend you follow these guidelines for the best results:
 Images should be clear, resized to fit the ad shape, and easy to recognize. Images shouldn't be
cut off or unrecognizable.
 All text should be easy to read and understand. Lines of text should be complete and make
sense. There's nothing more awkward than a line of text that's been cut off!
Try different ad ideas
Not sure how to make an ad? Get your creative juices flowing with our suggested display ad
templates. Make ads from your existing ads and the images found on your website, or customize
these ad ideas to suit your needs.
Include prices, promotions, and exclusives
If you have something special to offer, make sure your customers see it. People are usually searching
to make a decision about something. Give them what they need to help make their decision.
Using terms like special offers, coupons, discounts, promo codes, and bargains is a great way to let
people know you’ve got some deals.
Provide a relevant landing page
Take a look at the page on your website that you're linking to, which is called the landing page.
Make sure to include a clear call-to-action in your ad that takes viewers straight to that landing page.
For example, if your ad text says “Call us,” be sure to include your business phone number on the
landing page. If your ad text says “Limited time offer,” be sure to point people to that promotion on
the landing page.
Test different ad sizes
Create three to four ads per ad group, trying out different messages with different images. See
which ad performs the best with your customers. AdWords can automatically show the better-
performing ads within an ad group more often. This removes the guesswork and lets you build on
what you've learned from your experiments.
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Go Mobile
Show your image ads on all sorts of mobile devices, including smartphones, feature phones, and
tablets.
Supported ad sizes and formats
Before creating your ad in AdWords, you’ll need to prepare an image file that is sized and formatted
appropriately. The size and format requirements depend on where you plan to show your ad --
websites on desktop browsers or on mobile devices.
You can run multiple kinds of ads, not just image ads, from the same AdWords account and, in some
cases, from the same campaign. Note that the image examples in the following specs are only for
illustrative purposes and may not display correctly, depending on your browser and device.
Specs for static image ads on desktop browsers
Acceptable file formats: .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .SWF

File size limits: 150 KB or less for all files.
Supported ad sizes:
 250 x 250 square
 200 x 200 small square
 468 x 60 banner
 728 x 90 leader board
 300 x 250 inline rectangle
 336 x 280 large rectangle
 120 x 600 skyscraper
 160 x 600 wide skyscraper
 300 x 600 half-page ad
 970 x 90 large leader board
Specs for static image ads on high-end mobile devices
You can also create image ads to show on iPhones and other high-end mobile devices with full HTML
browsers.
Acceptable file formats: .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG

File size limits: 150 KB or less for all files.
Supported ad sizes:
 320 x 50 mobile leaderboard
 200 x 200 small square
 250 x 250 square
 300 x 250 inline rectangle
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 320 x 100 large mobile banner is also available.
Tips
 Once you've created your ad, make sure you choose the right device settings for your campaign
in order to show the ad on high-end mobile devices. More about high-end mobile ads
 You can also create image ads for WAP-enabled devices, which usually have a smaller screen.
Additional specs
We've covered just the basic specs above. Please check our image ad advertising policies for
more requirements about animated image ads, Flash ads, and general ad content. Make sure you
have the necessary permissions for the image you're using.
Creating your image ad
Click the links below to see step-by-step directions for building your image ad in the following
two different ways:
 Upload a standard image ad: If you have an ad file prepared, upload it in AdWords.
 Use Ad gallery image ad templates: You can also take advantage of available templates in Ad
gallery to build a custom ad. Use a mix of images you upload and images we provide in our
stock image gallery, and edit the content of your image within the tool.
Uploading your image ad
1. Sign in to AdWords at https://adwords.google.com.

3. Click the Ads tab within the page.
4. Click the + AD menu, and then click Image ad. Don't see this option? Check that your ad
campaign is set to show ads on the Display Network.
5. In the "Choose how to create your image ad” dialog, click the pencil icon, and then enter the
URL of your website.
6. Click the Create an ad button.
7. Several ad ideas will appear based on the content of your website.
8. In one of the ad ideas, click the See all variations link.
9. In “Select ad sizes,” select the checkboxes next to the ad ideas you want to use, and then
click OK.
10. On the “Review ad ideas” form, click the Select an ad group dropdown menu, click the name of
a campaign, and then click the name of an ad group.
11. Click Update ideas.
12. Click OK.
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Once you save your image ad, we'll review your ad to make sure it's meets our advertising policies.
Once approved, depending on your ad content and your campaign settings, your ad can start
running almost immediately.
Create dynamic display ads
Create dynamic display ads to showcase products or services from your feed. You'll have the
opportunity to create these ads when you're setting up your dynamic remarketing campaign, in your
account’s Ad gallery. When you create dynamic ads, you’ll specify whether they should use a
particular ad layout or your preferred layouts.
With preferred layouts, you’ll choose the layouts and features that you want. AdWords will only use
layouts from this pool of preferred layouts (not available for retails feeds). Features of layouts
include multiple product carousels, cropping your images to fit the ads, star ratings, and more.
AdWords can predict the layouts that are likely to perform best for the people, placements, and
platforms where they’ll show, making your dynamic ads even more effective.
Important: Before your ads show, we review their content and formatting to make sure they
meet advertising policies.
Create your dynamic ads
1. Click Campaigns at the top of your screen.

2. On the "All online campaigns" page, select your dynamic remarketing campaign.
4. Click the + Ad drop-down menu and select "Ad gallery."
5. Choose "Dynamic ads," then click Create.
6. Choose either text or image ads or click Create. Depending on the template you select, you
may be required to provide a layout, logo, headline, display URL, destination URL, ad name, or
button.
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7. If you chose image ads, go to "Layouts" and choose "Let AdWords automatically pick from your
preferred layouts" or "Select one AdWords layout." Preferred layouts currently aren't available
for retail feeds.
o Let AdWords automatically pick from your preferred layouts. All dynamic ad layouts and
features are turned on by default, but you can exclude specific layouts and turn off
features that you don’t want. As more ad layouts with the features you’ve turned on
become available, we’ll automatically add them to your preferred layouts.
1. Next to "Your preferred layouts," click the pencil icon. You’ll be taken to the "Choose
your preferred layouts" screen.
2. To exclude specific layouts, place your cursor over the layout and click the "x" that
appears. To turn off layout features, click the "On / Off" switch
3. Click Apply when you’re done.
o Select one AdWords layout. Click the drop-down menu below and choose an AdWords
layout.
8. Click Save and preview.
Customize the text in your dynamic ads
While there are numerous ad layouts available, you may want to customize your dynamic ads
further. If you’re using an education, flights, travel, or custom feed, you can customize how the
attributes from your feed are arranged in your dynamic ads.
For example, a layout uses the destination name "SFO" for the ad headline, the flight description
"Cheap daily flights" for the ad description, and the flight price "$900" for the price.
However, let’s say that you want a more descriptive headline. You could instead use the destination
name and the flight description for the ad headline: "Cheap daily flights to SFO."
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Here’s how you customize your dynamic ads:
1. Under "Feeds," click "More options."

2. Click in the field next to the ad element you want to customize, such as "Headline."
3. In the drop-down menu that appears select a feed attribute, which will appear in curly
brackets. For example, "{Destination ID}." Insert and arrange your attributes in this field. You
can also include static text. For example, to create the headline "Cheap daily flights" shown
above, you’d enter "{Flight description} to {Destination name}" in the headline field.
4. Click Save and preview.
Video ads
Create video ads with AdWords for video
With AdWords for video, you can advertise video ads on YouTube and across the web. You decide
where and when your video ads show up and who sees them. To get started, you can use your
existing YouTube video or create a new one using one of the TrueView formats.
Benefits of advertising with AdWords for video
Using AdWords for video, you can:
 Tell your story. You’re the expert of your business. Share your expertise with the world. Be
personal. Put the camera on yourself and explain how your product or service can benefit your
audience.
 Reach just the right audience. Every month, more than one billion people visit YouTube and
watch over six billion hours of YouTube videos. With AdWords for video, you pay only when
people interested in your business choose to view your ads. Reach your customers by topic, by
keywords, or by demographics like 'women under 35.'
 Create a video campaign in only a few minutes. Create your account, create or upload your
video ad, reach your audience, and you're on your way to reaching your audience.
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 Measure your success. Figure out if you're reaching the right audience. Check your AdWords
account to track views, clicks, costs, and budget details. Then visit the Analytics tab in your
YouTube account to learn more about your viewers. For example, you can tell which videos
your customers are watching and for how long.
To build your AdWords for video campaign, you'll need to:
 Begin setting up your new campaign.

 Create your video ad formats.
 Define your targeting settings.
Tips
 You can make several different types of video ads in AdWords with two different tools:
AdWords for video, and the Ad gallery.
 Before you make your video ads, you may want to spend a little time exploring the best
practices for creating effective video ads. This can help you get the best performance out of
your ads right from the start.
 Link your YouTube account to AdWords: To take full advantage of AdWords for video
reporting metrics within your account in the future, you link your YouTube and AdWords
accounts. Click Link your YouTube account from the AdWords for video side navigation menu
on any AdWords for video campaign page. You can also link more than one YouTube account.
To create a video ad campaign, you'll need to build the basics of your campaign, and then select your
targeting settings. If you don't have an AdWords account, you can sign up and create your first video
campaign at https://adwords.google.com/video
Start your video ad campaign
1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com/video.

2. If you've never created an AdWords for video campaign before, click New campaign > Online
video above the campaign table.
3. If you've created AdWords for video campaigns before:
o From the "All video campaigns view," click the Campaigns tab, and click All video
campaigns in the campaigns navigation list. You should see all campaigns within your
account.
o Click + Campaign above the campaign table. You can load the settings for a previously
created video campaign after this step.
4. Enter a campaign name.
5. Enter a daily budget.
6. Choose your target locations and languages.
7. Create a new video ad or skip to the next step. You can see instructions on how to create an
ad in a later topic in this article.
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Select your targeting settings
First, you'll need to tell us how you'd like to price your ads:
1. Name your targeting group.

2. Select your cost-per-view (CPV) bid:
o You can select a default max CPV bid for all ads in the campaign.
o You can also click Customize bids per format to set an individual CPV bid per TrueView
video ad format.
o Get updated traffic estimates: If you change your bid or any targeting options on the
page, your traffic estimates will update. Press "Enter" on your keyboard after you change
the amount in the bid field to trigger the update.
Tip
Target your ads broadly: For the best results, we suggest that you focus on targeting
broadly.
 By default when you set up your targeting, your settings will reach all viewers. If you
make any changes you'll be refining your targeting further.
 You're likely to get the best results by targeting demographics or topics and opting in
to all TrueView video formats.
 If you use more than one targeting method at a time, we'll apply them all. For
example, if you target a specific keyword, age, and channel, your ads will only be
shown when all those methods match your ad at the same time. This can restrict
your impressions significantly.
Next, let us know how you'd like to reach viewers:
1. Reach people who are watching:
YouTube and the Google Display Network offer a few ways to reach particular audiences:
o Demographic: Reach people by their age or gender.

o Viewing content (topics): Reach people based on general web content categories.
o User interested in (interests): Reach people based on more specific interests.
Advanced audience options: You can also select even more targeting criteria, but be careful!
Using too many of these can limit your ad's exposure. Additional options include:
o Shows ads on specific content (managed placements): Add unique websites or
placements within those websites. For example, for a particular YouTube Channel, you
can target an entire high traffic blog or the homepage of a popular news site.
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o Remarket to viewers using remarketing lists: Reach viewers based on their past
interactions with your videos or YouTube channel. If you've linked your YouTube account
to your AdWords account already, we'll create custom ones for you automatically.
 Video remarketing list: Remarketing lists we've created for you will appear here,
grouped by channel. You can also create a video remarketing list if your YouTube
account is linked.
 AdWords remarketing list: Remarketing lists you've created before will appear here.
If you don't have any remarketing lists, and don't want to link your YouTube
account, click Manage lists. This will open a new browser where you can create a
new remarketing list for your account.
o Specify content keywords: Enter keywords that will help match your ads to web content.
These work just like contextual targeting on the greater Google Display Network, but
apply only to videos on the entire network (which includes YouTube videos).
2. Traffic estimates: As you save your targeting criteria and update your settings for each option,
your estimated traffic data will update, too!
3. Click Save targeting group.
Video ad formats in AdWords for video
AdWords for video is a video-specific campaign management tool within AdWords. It offers the
TrueView family of cost-per-view (CPV) video ad formats.
Before you start building and placing your ads on video content sites, it's useful to learn more about
the video formats you can create with AdWords for video, and how they work:
 Check out the available TrueView video ad formats.

 Discover how to monitor your ad performance with AdWords for video.
Tips
 You can build video ads using either AdWords for video or the Ad gallery.
 With TrueView ads, you pay only when a viewer actively selects your video, or chooses to
continue watching a video when it first loads as they browse video content. Unlike cost-per-
click or cost-per-thousand impressions pricing, you won't need to pay every time your ad is
shown. While video content for TrueView ads must be hosted on YouTube, TrueView ads can
appear on both YouTube and other publisher sites in the Google Display Network for desktop
computers and high-end mobile devices.
TrueView video formats
Explore each of the formats in detail below.

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True View in-stream video ads
How does it Where will the ads

When should I use it? work? appear? How will I be charged?
Use this format when After five TrueView in-stream For videos 30 seconds or
you have video seconds, the videos can appear on longer, you'll be charged
content you'd like to viewer has YouTube Watch pages when the viewer reaches the
promote before short- an option to and on video publisher 30-second point of the
or long form videos on skip the ad. pages on the Google video. For videos shorter
YouTube and the Display Network than 30 seconds, you'll be
Google Display (includes YouTube). charged when the viewer
Network. watches the video to the
end.
True View in-display video ads
This format includes the following legacy formats:
 YouTube Promoted Videos overlay

 Promoted videos suggestions and related videos
 Google Click-to-Play ads
The video ad preview unit may vary in size. You can choose whether the video plays within the ad
unit or when a viewer clicks the unit to watch the video on its YouTube Watch page.
When should I use Where will the ads How will I be

it? How does it work? appear? charged?
Use this format to The appearance of the ad TrueView in-display You’ll be

promote a video format will vary, depending on video ads can charged only
next to YouTube which ad sizes and ad formats appear only on when viewers
videos, as part of a that content publishers YouTube Watch choose to watch
YouTube search support. For example, pages and on the your ad by
result or within YouTube is a key content Watch pages of clicking a
other website publisher within the network, video publishers on thumbnail.
content across the and these ads will function the Google Display
Google Display and appear in the same way Network.
Network. across the YouTube site.
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Create a video ad with the Ad gallery
The Ad gallery, formerly known as the display ad builder, is an ad creation tool that offers various
display ad formats in different categories, including video. You can create a video ad with the Ad
gallery in any campaign that's opted in to the Google Display Network. Here are some key benefits of
using the Ad gallery:
 Create and edit your ads easily, for free. Traditional display ads require you to hire a design
firm or divert your current design team resources from other sales and marketing projects for
your business. With the Ad gallery, you can create a custom ad in many sizes and variations
quickly, and for free. You'll pay only for ad clicks or impressions. If you need specialized content
(like logos), you'll still have some design costs, but they should be dramatically reduced when
you use the Ad gallery.
 Differentiate your products and services. It's important to set yourself apart from the
competition. Use images of your products and colors that match your brand and your logo. This
can help customers make a more qualified decision about whether to click your ads. Take
advantage of these design options with display ad features, which offer additional benefits that
text ads can't.
Using the Ad gallery
You'll create each ad using the video template, and your campaigns can include other ad formats,
like text and image ads. The available video ad formats use cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand
impressions (CPM), or cost-per-view (CPV) bidding. You can use videos that are hosted on YouTube,
or upload a video to your account.
We'll automatically create your ad in most of the standard IAB ad sizes. The ads you can create
include product showcases, galleries, and industry-specific ads.
Here are a few important things to know when creating your campaign:
 As with our other ad formats, you can choose to bid on a CPC or CPM basis for your video ads
by creating either a keyword-targeted campaign (to use CPC bidding) or a placement-targeted
campaign (to use CPC or CPM bidding). If you create a Promoted Videos ad, this ad will use CPV
bidding.
 Video ads will show only on the Google Display Network. You can choose to serve your video
ad on specific sites in our network, or use keywords to target your ads to pages that relate to
your product or service.
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Create a video ad with the Ad gallery
Before you can create video ads, the campaign must be set to show ads on the Display Network.
Once you've verified your settings, take these steps to create a video ad:
2. Select the campaign or ad group where you want to create your video ad.
3. Select the Ads tab.
4. On the "New ad" menu, select Ad gallery.
5. Click Video ads, and then select an ad template.
6. Provide the required information, including a video and image.
Videos: You can upload a video, use one of your previously uploaded videos, select a video
hosted on YouTube, or make a video ad with Spot Mixer.
Images: You can select from our stock of free images, your media library of previously
uploaded content, or use an image hosted on your own site.
7. Click Save ad.
Tips
 If you're using managed placements, select sites or categories that you know your target
audience will find interesting. If there's a specific demographic you're trying to reach, use
demographic site selection to find the right websites for your ad. We recommend that you
target at least 10 sites, if possible. This will help ensure your ad's visibility, and can allow you to
judge your ad's relative performance more easily.
 If you're running a keyword-targeted campaign, it's important to have tightly themed ad
groups that only contain keywords that relate to a specific theme or topic.
How you’re charged
You can bid on either a CPM or CPC basis:
 CPC: You won't be charged for each play of your video, but rather for customer clicks that load
the Destination URL while your video ad is playing.
 CPM: Charges are counted as soon as the ad plays. The CPM minimum for partner video sites is
set individually by each publisher and therefore varies. This minimum is also specific to the US,
and may vary per market.
Companion banner ads: There's no additional cost to add these to your in-stream video ads. Not all
video sites on the Google Display Network support companion ads. For those that do, they're free
and aren't counted as an additional impression. Instead, they're counted as a single impression
combined with the video ad.
The expandable video ad template

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Expandable video ads appear on sites across the Google Display Network. When a customer clicks on
an expandable ad, it expands to twice its width or height, depending on the format. Expandable
formats encourage more interaction from interested customers by increasing your ad's presence on
the page.
The following ad sizes are supported for expandable templates:
 120 x 600
 468 x 60
 728 x 90
 300 x 250
 160 x 600
 336 x 280
We don't charge you when a viewer clicks to expand your ad. However, we do charge you if a
customer visit your landing page after clicking on the expanded ad.
Expansions will be listed in reports as "interactions," so you can track how people are interacting
with your ads.
Mobile ads
Create a WAP mobile ad
A WAP mobile ad is a text ad or image ad that's made to show on WAP-enabled mobile devices
(sometimes called "feature phones"). WAP-enabled devices let people browse mobile websites that
are specifically designed for small mobile devices. These websites are typically much simpler than
the full-fledged websites you'd normally see on a desktop computer.
A WAP mobile ad
on a WAP-enabled phone
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WAP mobile ads allow you to reach people who are searching on their feature phones for products
or services that you offer. These people would miss out on regular search or high-end mobile ads
that might be shown for the same queries on other devices.
You can create either WAP text ads or WAP image ads. If you're creating a WAP text ad, you can link
to your mobile website or even connect customers directly to your business phone number.
Depending on your location, you can also target specific mobile carriers.
Creating a WAP text ad
To create a new WAP text ad in one of your existing ad groups, first make sure All features are
enabled from the Settings tab for your campaign. Then, follow these steps:
2. Go to the Campaigns tab and select any one of your existing campaigns.
3. Navigate to the Ads tab.
4. Click the + Ad link at the top of the table and choose WAP mobile ad.
5. Select WAP text ad and fill out the rest of the fields as needed. (Note that ad text for WAP ads
has limit of 18 characters per line, and display URLs can have a maximum of 20 characters.)
6. Optional: To add a phone number to your ad, check the box next to "Connect customers to my
business telephone number so that people can click to call."
7. Click Save ad.
Creating a WAP image ad
To create a new WAP image ad in one of your existing ad groups, first make sure All features are
enabled from the Settings tab for your campaign. Then, follow these steps:
2. Go to the Campaigns tab and select any one of your existing campaigns.
3. Navigate to the Ads tab.
4. Click the + Ad link at the top of the table and choose WAP mobile ad.
5. Select WAP image ad and fill out the rest of the fields as needed.
6. Click Save ad.
Types of mobile ads
 Reach your customers while they're on the go with ads on mobile devices
 Understand the different types of ads that can show on mobile devices
 Learn how to show your ads on different mobile devices, like smartphones and feature phones
 See how to opt out of showing your ads on mobile devices
Where mobile ads can appear Ad types

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On mobile devices with full browsers,  Text ads

such as smartphones or tablets  Image ads
 App promotion ads
 HTML 5 ads built with Google Web Designer
Within apps on smartphones or tablets  Text ads
 Image ads
 App promotion ads
 Image app promotion ads
 Video app promotion ads
Important
To create image ads, your campaign must be opted into the Display Network, either as “Display
Network only” or “Search Network with Display Select”.
Ads on mobile devices
Many mobile devices, such as smartphones, have full Internet browsers. These browsers can display
websites similar to the ones you'd see on a desktop computer, as well as mobile optimized sites.
High-end mobile devices can also host apps, which people can download from the app store in their
device, or from a website.
The wide variety of media available on mobile devices means you can show ads in many different
formats. Testing your message using multiple ad formats can help you understand what drives
customers to your website or to download your mobile app. However, in general, starting by
tailoring your message to be compelling to customers on mobile devices can help your ads look and
perform much better in any format.
To make sure your ad looks great on the small screen, you can create a mobile-optimized ad with a
message, display URL, and landing page specifically for mobile devices. To do so, select the "Mobile"
checkbox next to the "Device preference" setting. If your ad groups contain ads that are eligible to
appear on all devices and mobile-optimized ads, only your mobile preferred ads will appear on
mobile devices.
Note
All new campaigns are automatically eligible to run on most mobile devices. If you’d like to avoid
showing ads on mobile, you can set a negative bid adjustment for mobile.
Mobile text ads
Mobile text ads look like standard text ads that you'd see on a desktop computer. The main
difference is that we can show more ads per page when someone's searching on a desktop
computer, and fewer ads per page when someone's searching on a mobile device. Keep in mind, text
ads can appear differently on the Display Network.
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Dynamically optimizing your ads for performance
For mobile text ads, AdWords may sometimes replace your second line of description text with the
most relevant ad extensions that you've enabled — like sitelink extensions, location extensions,
or callout extensions. This helps us provide the most relevant information possible to your potential
customers, and can increase your ads' clickthrough rates.
The following examples show how AdWords can dynamically fine-tune your ads to deliver more
relevant and high-performing information. Keep in mind that the examples below will not always
occur, and that this feature will not be available for accounts advertising pharmaceutical products or
services.
Examples
Ad auction scenario What shows in the ad How your ad might look
A specific ad extension Your top performing ad Headline

that you have enabled will extension for this Ad www.example.com
perform better than your audience will appear in
ad's description line 2 place of your description Description Line 1
text. line 2 text. Sitelink 1 - Sitelink 2
Your ad's description line Your description line 2 Headline

2 text will perform better will appear in your ad. Ad www.example.com
than an ad extension.
Description line 1
Description line 2
Neither the description The ad will be collapsed Headline

line 2 text nor an ad to make more space for Ad www.example.com
extension would perform additional relevant ads in
best in the ad auction. the auction. Description line 1
You don't have to do anything to take advantage of this feature, but there are a few ways to further
optimize your mobile ad text:
 Start by creating ad extensions, if you haven't already. If they perform better than your
description text, your ad extensions will appear when your ads show on mobile devices.
 Keep your description lines short and sweet. It's still smart to create a second line of
description text — if your text performs better than your ad extensions, or if your ads appear
on desktops or tablets, AdWords will show it instead. Keep these lines under 35 characters to
make them easy to read on smaller screens.
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 Consider mobile-preferred ads. To get your message across in less space, try writing
description text that is short, direct, and highly relevant to people on the go. Check the
"Mobile" box when creating your new mobile-optimized ad to let AdWords know it should
show on mobile devices.
Did you know...
Ad extensions are factored into how Ad Rank is calculated, so showing more relevant, better
performing extensions, can help improve your ad position. If two competing ads have the same
bid and quality, then the ad with the more relevant extensions will most likely appear in a higher
position than the other.
Your text ads will automatically run on mobile devices unless you’ve set a -100% bid adjustment for
mobile devices in your campaigns settings under “Devices”.
 Create a new text ad
 Learn how to appeal to customers on mobile devices
Mobile image ads
Image ads on mobile devices are similar to normal image ads that you'd see on a desktop computer,
but they can link to your mobile website or to your app. To have your image ads run on mobile
devices, just make sure your campaign is opted in to the Display Network. Every image size that is
accepted for ads on running desktop computers is also accepted for ads on mobile devices.
However, to run ads on mobile apps and sites that are designed for mobile devices, your image ad
size should be 320 x 50. Image ads can show as banner ads or interstitials in mobile apps — you can
find the recommended sizes for each, below.
Interstitial image ads
These are full-screen ads that tend to have higher clickthrough rates than banner ads, but may have
a higher CPC. These appear as someone transitions between screens or pages in an app.
 Sizes for mobile phones: 300 x 250, 320 x 480, and 480 x 320.
 Sizes for tablets: 1024 x 768 and 768 x 1024.
Banner image ads
Banner ads appear as a small strip or “banner” across the top of an app page or screen. They’re the
most commonly used ad format for mobile. You can upload double-sized images (for example, a 640
x 100 image for a 320 x 50 ad slot) for high-resolution display devices. We’ll auto-adjust the image
based on the device’s pixel density.
 Sizes for mobile phones and tablets: 320 x 50, 468 x 60, 728 x 90, and 300 x 250.
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Tip
By default your ads will show both as banners and interstitials. If you want to only run
interstitials, go to the Display Network tab in AdWords and click + Exclusion under “Campaign
exclusions.” Select “GMob mobile app non-interstitial” to exclude banner ads from your mobile
app campaign.
App promotion ads
App promotion ads (formerly "click-to-download" ads) are the easiest and most effective way to
drive downloads: much of the customization is done for you. You can run these ads across search
and display using the App/digital content ad format. App promotion ads can be created in these
types of campaigns:
Display Network
 “Ads in mobile apps”

 “Mobile app installs”
 “Mobile app engagement”
Search Network
 “Mobile app installs”

 “Mobile app engagement”
These ads are designed to show on devices where they’ll have the most impact. When you create a
new campaign to promote your mobile app, your ads show only on phones and tablets (not on
desktop computers).
Use your app ID to continue showing app promotion ads.
AdWords will no longer support certain features in Display Network "Mobile app installs" and
"Mobile app engagement" campaigns. The following ads will not show to consumers:
1. Image and text ads created without an app ID.

2. Ads targeting individual websites and general interest categories.
All ads in "Mobile app installs" and "Mobile app engagement" campaigns must be App/digital
content ads associated with an app ID. To continue to run your ads in your app promotion campaign,
you'll need to recreate your ads as App/digital content ads in AdWords. If you have a lot of ads, you
could use AdWords Editor to add an app ID to many ads at once.
If you’d like to use your text or image ads, you can run them in a separate “Ads in mobile apps”
campaign. You can copy and paste existing ads into your new campaign.
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Ad format details
Standard Image Video
Features App icon and description text. Ads Only your custom Video from a YouTube link,
on the Display Network include the uploaded images or generated from app
app store rating. and text. imagery and text
Networks Search and AdMob app networks AdMob app network AdMob app network
Function Link to an app store, a deep link, or Link to an app store, Link to an app store
an app or deep link to an
app
For standard and video app promotions ads, we can use your app ID and package name to help
customize how the ad appears. For image ads, they’ll only show the image that you upload to
AdWords.
Managing multiple accounts
Create a My Client Center (MCC) account
If you’re an agency or someone who manages multiple AdWords accounts, a My Client Center
(MCC) manager account is a powerful tool that could save your time. A manager account is an
AdWords account that lets you easily view and manage all of your AdWords accounts -- including
other MCC manager accounts -- from a single location.
An MCC manager account isn't an "upgrade" of your AdWords account. Instead, it's an entirely new
AdWords account you create. Think of a manager account as an umbrella AdWords account with
several AdWords accounts (client accounts) linked to it. As always, owners of individual client
accounts can sign in to their AdWords accounts and maintain access to their information.
Benefits of using an MCC manager account
An MCC manager account is an AdWords account that’s designed to help you easily monitor and
manage other AdWords accounts. With a manager account you can:
 Use a single sign in to access all managed AdWords accounts, including other manager
accounts.
 Search, navigate, and manage all of your accounts from a single, easy-to-read dashboard.
 Efficiently monitor your accounts using alerts.
 Easily compare performance across all accounts and run reports for multiple accounts at once.
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 Get budget updates for all of your managed accounts and easily track which account is being
billed.
 Quickly create and link AdWords accounts from within your manager account.
Who should use a manager account:
 Large advertisers with more than one AdWords account

 Third parties such as:
o Agencies
o Search engine marketers (SEMs)
o Automated bid managers (ABMs)
o And other online marketing professionals who manage multiple client accounts or large
campaigns
Creating an MCC manager account
Here’s how to create an MCC manager account:
1. Visit http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/myclientcenter/ and click Sign up now in the

top corner.
2. Enter the email address you want to use for this account. The email address must not already
be used to sign in to other AdWords accounts.
3. Give your manager account a name. This is the name that your clients will see in their managed
account.
4. Choose how you plan to use the account, either as an account to manage your own multiple
AdWords accounts, or to manage other people’s accounts.
5. Select your country and time zone. This time zone will be used for your account reporting and
billing and can’t be changed. You might want to choose the time zone you work in.
6. Select a permanent currency for your account. This selection will associate your manager
account with an appropriate currency for any MCC-specific billing needs (e.g. Manager Defined
Spend). You might want to choose the currency in which you do business. Your client accounts
will be billed in their individual chosen currencies.
7. Check the box to accept the rules of use and click Save and continue.
8. Once your email is verified, your new manager account is active!
Linking your MCC manager account to an AdWords account
Once you create your manager account, you’ll need to link it to your client’s existing or new
AdWords account, or to another manager account. Then, client managers can view information
across multiple AdWords accounts and switch between AdWords accounts without using multiple
unique logins or logging out.
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An individual AdWords account can be linked to no more than 5 five manager accounts, and your
managed account structure can be no greater than 5 levels deep. Also, a manager account can’t be
directly managed by more than 1 other manager account.
Linking an existing AdWords account
When you link an existing AdWords account to a manager account, the original account remains
unchanged and the client’s account history remains intact. For example, invoicing and payment
methods are not affected when an account is linked to a manager account. Clients continue to have
access to their billing and login information. From the client's perspective, the account will look the
same as ever, and is accessible with the same login information as before.
To link an existing AdWords account to your manager account:
1. Retrieve your client's AdWords Customer ID number (which appears in the top corner of
AdWords account pages).
2. Sign in to your manager account at https://adwords.google.com.
3. Click the Link existing accounts button.
4. Once you’ve reviewed the terms for linking accounts, enter your new client's Customer ID
number in the client accounts field.
5. Click Continue, and then Submit.
6. When you click "Submit," your client will receive an account notification that invites them to
link to your account. If your client is an administrator on the AdWords account, they can accept
your invitation by clicking the gear icon , then selecting Account settings from the drop-
down. Then they’ll select Account access from the side navigation and click Accept invitation.
(If the invited account is an optional login account, which doesn’t have any administrative
users, an administrative user on the manager account that created the optional login account
can accept the invitation from within the invited account.)
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7. During this process, you'll see a pending notification for the (soon-to-be) managed account in
your manager account. Upon the client's acceptance, you'll receive a confirmation notification
and the account will be automatically linked to your manager account.
Linking a new AdWords account
To create an AdWords account and link it to your manager account:

2. Click the +Create account button and choose whether you want to create a new AdWords
account or AdWords Express account.
3. Complete the form, and click Create account.
4. Once your account is created, click Done.
5. To go into your new managed AdWords account and create its first ad campaign, click the
account’s name in the “Client” column. Then click Create your first campaign to begin. You’ll
also need to enter your client’s billing information in order to activate your new managed
account and begin running ads.
Linking your manager account to another manager account
You can manage other manager accounts in the same way that you manage individual AdWords
accounts. First you’ll need to link the two manager accounts.
Here’s how to link another manager account to your manager account:
1. Retrieve the Customer ID number of the manager account that you'd like to link to your
account. You can find it in the top corner of any page in the AdWords account.
3. Click Link existing account, which appears above your managed accounts table.
4. Enter the manager account’s Customer ID in the client accounts field.
5. Click Submit.
When you click Submit, an account notification will appear in the invited manager’s account inviting
the owner to link to your manager account. During this process, you'll see a pending notification in
your manager account. Upon acceptance by the invited account's owner, you'll receive a
confirmation notification and the manager account will automatically be linked to your account.
Unlinking an account from your manager account
When your existing service relationship with a client has ended, you or your client will need to unlink
the client account from your manager account. Once this happens, you will no longer be able to see
the client account from your dashboard.
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Important: Unlinking from a client account that’s on consolidated billing does not change the client
account’s billing settings. After you unlink the account, all active and pending budgets will remain
active and the account's ads will continue to serve and be billed to the original account.
If you no longer want your manager account to be billed for the client account you’re planning to
unlink, make sure you end all budgets under that manager account before you unlink. If you unlink
accounts before doing this, you won’t have access to the billing page and will need to call Google
directly to request assistance from Google support staff.
To end budgets prior to unlinking:
1. From the client account, click the gear icon and choose Billing.
2. Click the Orders link. Then find the budget order you'd like to delete, end, or edit.
3. Once you find the budget order, look under the Actions column. To delete a budget order
that's pending activation or review, click Delete. To end an active budget order, click End order.
4. When finished, click Submit.
If you will be linking the client account to a manager account you already have access to, then you
don’t need to take any action since the same manager account will still be billed for the accounts
under it.
To unlink an account from your manager account:

2. Select the client account you'd like to unlink.
3. Click the Arrange accounts drop-down menu and select Unlink accounts.
Inviting users to your account
From your manager account’s “Account access” menu, you can invite users to your manager
account, manage your account invitations, and see who has access to your manager account and
what level of access they have.
To get to the “Account access” menu:
1. Click the gear icon in the top corner of your manager account and choose Account settings.
2. Click Account access from the side navigation. You’ll see any “Pending invitations” and a list of
“Users with account access.”
To revoke or resend a pending invitation from here, click the Actions drop-down menu in the
“Pending invitations” section and choose either option.
To remove a current user’s access or change their notification settings from here, click
the Actions drop-down menu in the “Users with account access” section and choose either option.
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Invite a new user to access your manager account
Here’s how to invite someone to access your manager account and choose their access level:
1. From the “Account access” page, click the +Users button.

2. Enter the new user’s email address, name (optional), and choose an access level.
3. Click Send invitation. Your invitee will need to accept your invitation and create their own
AdWords sign in. We’ll notify you when your invitee responds.
4. If they accept, you must confirm and grant the invitee access to your account. To do this, click
the gear icon in the top corner of your account, then click Account settings.
5. Click Account access from the side navigation and confirm their access to your account by
clicking Grant access.
Managing access levels
Similar to individual AdWords accounts, users of manager accounts can be assigned 4 levels of
access: “Administrative, “Standard,” “Read only,” and “Email only.”
How much someone can see and do within a manager account and the accounts linked to it depends
upon the level of access they’re granted for that manager account, as well as who originally invited
that user to the account.
Manager accounts
 Anyone with access to linked manager accounts that are above your manager account in the
account structure can make changes to your manager account.
 Users with access to manager accounts that you manage (below your account in the account
structure), won’t be able to make changes to your account.
 The access level assigned to a user of a manager account grants the user the same level of
access to all AdWords accounts the manager account is linked to.
 Managers can terminate relationships with managed accounts at any time by unlinking the
account from their manager account.
Individual AdWords accounts
 Users can still access their own individual AdWords accounts at any time and can terminate the
relationship with the manager account at any time by unlinking their account from the
manager account.
 Although multiple AdWords accounts can be linked to a manager account, users of these
AdWords accounts only have direct access to their own accounts.
 An individual AdWords account can still manage the access levels of users it originally invited to
the account. Therefore, if a user was invited by a user associated with an AdWords account,
only a user on that AdWords account with the appropriate access level can remove the user
(although a manager account can change the user’s access level).
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 A manager account can only remove users that were originally invited by the manager account.
 Managers may monitor ad performance, update campaigns, and otherwise manage account
tasks for their managed accounts, but do not have access to change proprietary information,
such as a managed account’s sign in information.
Learn more about sharing and managing levels of account access for individual AdWords accounts.
Here's an overview of the different access levels for manager account users and what they can do:
What the manager

account user can do
Access level for manager in the manager What the manager account user can do
account user account in linked managed accounts
Administrative access  Unlink other  Invite users to linked accounts

manager  Give “Standard” or “Read only”
accounts and access to linked accounts
individual  Remove a user from a linked
AdWords account only if it’s a user they
accounts originally invited
 Invite users to  View, edit, and manage any part of
the manager linked accounts and campaigns
 Cancel  For users originally invited by the
invitations to individual AdWords account, a
the manager manager account user can change
account sent by that user’s access to a higher level.
other users To change this type of user from
 Remove a user “administrative” access to a lower
from the level, the manager account user
manager can only assign the user a special
account only if “managed” lower level access
the user was (“Managed - Standard” or
originally invited “Managed - Read only”). This
by the allows the user to still be able to
administrative unlink from the manager account.
user  Receive notification emails for
 Change access linked accounts
level for  Receive emailed reports, if added
manager to email list
account users
Standard access  Browse the  View, edit, and manage any part of
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manager linked accounts and campaigns

account  Sign in and run reports for linked
accounts
 Receive notification emails for
linked accounts
 Receive emailed reports, if added
to email list
Managed-Standard access  Browse the  View, edit, and manage any part of
This access level is assigned manager linked accounts and campaigns
when a manager account account  Receive notification emails for
user lowers another user’s  Unlink from linked accounts
access level from accounts  Receive emailed reports, if added
“Administrative” to managed by this to email list
“Standard,” and that user was manager
originally invited to the account
account by someone else.
Read only access  Browse the  Sign in and run reports for linked
manager accounts
account  Receive notification emails for
linked accounts
 Receive emailed reports, if added
to email list
Managed-Ready only access  Browse the  Sign in and run reports for linked
This access level is assigned manager accounts
when a manager account account  Browse linked accounts
user lowers another user’s  Unlink from  Receive notification emails for
access level from accounts linked accounts
“Administrative” or managed by this  Receive emailed reports, if added
“Standard” to “Read only,” manager to email list
and that user was originally account
invited to the account by
someone else.
Email only access  Receive  Receive notification emails for

notification linked accounts
emails for  Receive emailed reports, if added
manager to email list
account
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Access levels for individual AdWords accounts
Users of managed AdWords accounts can also be assigned “Managed - Standard” and “Managed -
Read only” access levels (in addition to the usual AdWords account access levels). This occurs when a
manager account user lowers the access level of an AdWords account user who was originally
invited to the account by someone else, or when a manager account user adds a user to an optional
login AdWords account.
In addition to the normal “Standard” and “Read-only” functions, users with these access levels can
also unlink from their manager accounts.
Tip
There’s always the chance that multiple managers could make conflicting changes to the same
account. To avoid this, you’ll want to have clear communication amongst all users about roles
and responsibilities for account management and changes to the account. Also, try using a tool
like AdWords Editor when making account changes.
Managing your account structure
You can give someone access to only some of the accounts linked to your manager account by taking
advantage of a manager account’s ability to link to another manager account.
Example
Amy manages 5 accounts that include 2 accounts for direct sales and 3 accounts for channel
sales. She wants her partner, Bill, to manage the channel sales accounts. To accomplish this:
1. Bill creates his own manager account.
2. Amy links Bill’s new manager account to her own manager account. Bill now has a sub-manager
account that's managed by Amy's account.
3. Amy changes the manager for the 3 channel sales accounts to Bill’s manager account.
Now Bill has access to the 3 accounts he needs, while Amy can still view each of those accounts
from her top-level manager account.
Unlinking an account from its manager
An individual AdWords account can unlink from a manager account without losing the own account's
campaign history or access to any AdWords features. Here’s how:
1. Sign in to the managed AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

2. Click the gear icon in the top corner.
3. Select the Account settings.
4. Click Account access from the side navigation.
5. Scroll down to the "Client Managers" section. In the row of the manager account you want to
unlink from, click theActions drop-down menu and choose Terminate access.
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6. Click OK.
Once unlinked, the AdWords account can ask their new manager to link their account to the new
manager account.
Unlinking and consolidated billing
Important: If you move a client account that’s on consolidated billing from one manager account to
another, it does not change the client account’s billing settings. After you move the account, the
new manager account won’t have access to the budget order. All active and pending budgets will
remain active and the account's ads will continue to serve and be billed to the original account.
If you no longer want your manager account to be billed for the client account you’re planning to
move, make sure you end all budgets under that manager account before you move it. If you move
accounts before doing this, you won’t have access to the billing page and will need to call Google
directly to request assistance from Google support staff.
To end budgets prior to moving the account:
1. From the client account, click the gear icon and choose Billing.
2. Click the Orders link. Then find the budget order you'd like to delete, end, or edit.
3. Once you find the budget order, look under the Actions column. To delete a budget order
that's pending activation or review, click Delete. To end an active budget order, click End order.
4. When finished, click Submit.
If you will be moving the client account to a manager account you already have access to, then you
don’t need to take any action since the same manager account will still be billed for the accounts
under it.
Creating an optional login AdWords account
You can create a new AdWords or AdWords Express account right from your manager account
without an additional email address or password. This AdWords account will have no users on it, and
there will be no way for a user to directly access the account unless you invite them directly.
Creating this account doesn’t give the users of your manager account more control over the day-to-
day management of the optional-login AdWords account. However, it will mean that the manager
account has the ability to invite “Administrative access” users to the account, accept user invitations,
terminate another manager, accept an invite for another manager, and reject another manager.
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Critical account alerts for optional log-in AdWords accounts are sent to the email address associated
with the manager account. However, the manager account won’t receive other notifications for the
client account by default. To receive these email notifications, go to “Account settings” from the
gear menu , click "Notification settings" from the side navigation, and change settings as needed.
How to create an optional login account within your manager account
1. From the “Performance” tab of your manager account, click + Create Account.
2. Select the type of account you want to create: AdWords or AdWords Express.
3. Give the new account a name (this is the name you and your clients will see).
4. Select a time zone country and time zone from the drop-down menus. These settings can’t be
changed later, so choose carefully.
5. Select a permanent currency for this account. Review the available payment options for local
currencies before you decide. Not all currencies are available in all areas.
6. Click one or both of the checkboxes if you want this manager account to receive “personalized
ideas and special offers” or “AdWords newsletters with best practices and offers” related to
the new AdWords account.
7. Click Invite a user to this account (optional) if you want to allow another user access to this
AdWords account. Otherwise, you can choose to create the account with no user. To invite
another user, enter their email address and select the level of access you want to grant them,
“Administrative access,” “Managed read only access,” or “Managed standard access.” Learn
more about access levels in manager accounts.
Keep in mind
 You can't unlink an optional log-in account from your manager account without first inviting a
user to the account with “Administrative Access.” Learn how to invite a user to the account.
 You can’t create an optional-login account using AdWords Editor. You must create the account
using the AdWords interface.
 If you use the AdWords API, you can make changes to an optional-login account as long as the
account is associated with your manager account with API access.
Tip
Do you need additional email addresses to sign in to your managed accounts? Only one AdWords
account can be associated with a Google Account login, so you must use distinct, functioning
login emails for each of the client accounts and manager accounts linked to your manager
account.
Payment decline emails are sent to both the login and contact email addresses associated with
an account. Therefore, you shouldn't use your clients' email addresses as login emails if you don't
want your clients to receive these notifications.
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To obtain more login emails for your managed accounts, we recommend taking advantage of a
free email service, such as Google's Gmail, or a free email service available from another
provider.
You may also want to see if your current email provider supports the functionality in which
adding '+__' before '@domain.com' creates a unique address without changing the destination of
the message.
For example, if your email address is 'john@mybusiness.com,' you may be able to use
'john+1@mybusiness.com,' 'john+2@mybusiness.com,' etc. as distinct login emails for your
managed accounts. Emails sent to 'john+1@mybusiness.com,' etc. would go to your
'john@mybusiness.com' inbox.
Alternatively, some email providers offer more than one email address per customer. Emails to
the different addresses can then be redirected to the same inbox.
Understanding My Client Center (MCC) access levels
You can think of MCC account levels like a tree. Each top-level MCC can branch out to manage
individual accounts or other MCCs. Sub-level MCCs can then branch out to manage more individual
accounts or MCCs, and so on. To help you navigate through this structure, a breadcrumb located at
the top of each account page records how many account levels deep you are. Note that you can link
to a maximum of four levels of MCC above or below your own.
Overview of MCC Manager Levels and Roles
Once you link a sub-level My Client Center (MCC) to your top-level MCC, you can manage the
account in the same way that you currently manage individual AdWords accounts.
To access a managed MCC, sign in to your top-level MCC. From here, you can navigate to other
MCCs by doing one of the following:
 Select the sub-level MCC from the "Jump to client" drop-down menu listed at the top of the
page. Sub-level MCCs are denoted by asterisks.
 Click the sub-level MCC from the managed account table. "Client Manager" will be indicated
beneath Customer ID.
Assigning Managers and MCC Levels
You can give someone access to only some of the managed accounts in your My Client Center (MCC)
by taking advantage of an MCC's ability to link to another MCC. The example below illustrates this
idea in more detail:
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Amy manages five accounts, and she wants her partner Bill to help her manage three of those five.
To accomplish this:
1. Amy unlinks the three accounts from her MCC.

2. Bill creates his own MCC, to which he links those three accounts.
3. Amy then links Bill's MCC to her MCC.
Amy still has access to all five of the accounts: two via her MCC and three via Bill's MCC. Bill, on the
other hand, only has access to the three accounts in his MCC.
Changing Client Managers
It's simple to move a managed account to another My Client Center (MCC) within your top-level
MCC. If you need to move an MCC or a managed account with API-only access, please contact us and
we can assist you. If you move an account on Manager Defined Spend (MDS) from one MCC to
another, both MCCs must have access to the Manager Defined Order (MDO) funding the account for
the ads to keep running. If the new MCC doesn't have access, all of the account's active and pending
budgets will be disabled, and the account's ads will stop serving within 30 minutes. Ad delivery will
resume when the new client manager creates a budget for the account.
Example 1:
An MDO is applied to your top-level MCC, which houses two sub-level MCCs. You transfer a
managed account from sub-MCC 1 to sub-MCC 2. Its ads keep running, because the managed
account is still under the same MDO.
Example 2:
Your top-level MCC houses two sub-level MCCs. However, each sub-MCC has its own MDO. You
transfer a managed account from sub-MCC 1 to sub-MCC 2. The managed account's budget is
terminated and its ads stop running, because it's changed MDOs. Its ads will resume running once
you create a new budget for the account.
About the MCC dashboard
The MCC dashboard makes it easier to view a wide range of client account statistics from the highest
level of your MCC account. Performance and budget statistics for client accounts are now shown on
separate tabbed pages, providing a more comprehensive, top-level view of key stats across managed
accounts. You can also now select time periods for viewing statistics, making it easier to limit your
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view of account statistics to a particular week, month, or date range. Keep in mind that you can only
look at Performance Statistics for the last 90 days.
On the Performance page, you'll find stats on clicks, conversions and conversion rates, as well as
separate columns forSearch and Display Network CTR, allowing for easier comparison of
performance based on network placement.
On the Budget page, you'll find information about start- and end- dates, percent of budget spent and
total spend for each account.
Managing a large account or multiple accounts
If you're reading this article, then you've mastered the basics of AdWords and you're ready to learn
about some of our advanced tools -- specifically, time-saving tools you can use to manage a large
account or many accounts at once. We'll highlight: AdWords Editor, the AdWords Application
Programming Interface (API), AdWords My Client Center (MCC), and AdWords ValueTrack. These
tools can help you streamline workflow, build applications, and track detailed information about
each click on your ads.
Bulk actions
If you have one account, you can select multiple items on the campaign, keyword, ad group or ad
tab, then to make changes to these selections using the Edit button. For example, you can select
hundreds of ads, then change the ad text, the destination URL or the display URL across all these
ads. You can make similar bulk changes to budgets of campaigns and ad groups, or bids on
keywords, for instance.
AdWords Editor
If you have a large number of campaigns or keywords, AdWords Editor can streamline your account
changes and save you time. The basic process is: download your account, edit your campaigns
offline, then upload your changes to AdWords.
Whether you're editing one keyword or adding hundreds of text ads, Editor enables you to make
changes to your account quickly and conveniently. Using Editor, you can:
 Perform detailed searches across campaigns

 Work offline, then upload your changes at any time.
 Make bulk changes, like updating bids or adding keywords.
 Copy or move items between ad groups and campaigns.
 Navigate through your account quickly and easily.
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 Circulate proposed changes to other people and get feedback from them before you post
changes.
AdWords Application Programming Interface
The Google AdWords Application Programming Interface (API) lets developers build applications that
interact directly with the Google AdWords server. And the API is flexible and functional -- you can
use it to build an application that meets your needs. Using the API, you can:
 Generate automatic keywords, ad text, destination URLs, and custom reports.

 Integrate AdWords data with your inventory system to manage campaigns based on stock.
 Develop additional tools and applications to help you manage accounts.
You can even develop in the language of your choice. The AdWords API SOAP interface is supported
by all popular programming languages, including Java, PHP, Python, .NET, Perl, Ruby, and JavaScript.
AdWords My Client Center
Think of a My Client Center (MCC) account as an umbrella account with several AdWords accounts
("managed accounts") linked to it. With MCC, you can manage multiple AdWords accounts quickly
and easily from a single location. Using an MCC account, you can:
 Use a single login to access all managed accounts.

 Easily view multiple managed accounts, including other MCC accounts, via a My Client Center
view.
 See relevant information for all managed accounts in one place.
 Run reports across multiple managed accounts at once or download the My Client Center view
into a CSV file.
 Quickly create and link new AdWords accounts from within your MCC account.
Owners of individual managed accounts can, as always, sign in to their AdWords accounts and
maintain access to their sign-in information.
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Measure Results:
Connect your goals to data:

To use AdWords effectively, it's important to understand the business goals you're trying to achieve
and the data that is most relevant to those goals. We'll show you the metrics you need to focus on
for the goals you set and how to measure whether you're getting a profitable return for the money
you're investing in AdWords.
1. Measuring return on investment (ROI)

2. Measuring traffic to your website
3. Measuring sales and conversions
1. Measuring return on investment (ROI):

Whether you use AdWords to increase sales, generate leads, or drive other valuable customer
activity, it's a good idea to measure your return on investment (ROI). Knowing your ROI helps
you evaluate whether the money you're spending on AdWords advertising is going to a good
cause: healthy profits for your business.
Understanding ROI:
ROI is the ratio of your net profit to your costs. It's typically the most important measurement
for an advertiser because it's based on your specific advertising goals and shows the real effect
your advertising efforts have on your business. The exact method you use to calculate ROI
depends upon the goals of your campaign.
One way to define ROI is:
(Revenue - Cost of goods sold) / Cost of goods sold
Let's say you have a product that costs $100 to produce, and sells for $200. You sell 6 of these
products as a result of advertising them on AdWords, so your total cost is $600 and your total
sales is $1200. Let's say your AdWords costs are $200, for a total cost of $800. Your ROI is:
($1200 - $800) / $800

= $400 / $800
= 50%
In this example, you're earning a 50% return on investment. For every $1 you spend, you get
$1.50 back.
For physical products, the cost of goods sold is equal to the manufacturing cost of all the items
you sold plus your advertising costs, and your revenue is how much you made from selling those
products. The amount you spend for each sale is known as cost per conversion.
If your business generates leads, the cost of goods sold is just your advertising costs, and your
revenue is the amount you make on a typical lead. For example, if you typically make 1 sale for
every 10 leads, and your typical sale is $20, then each lead generates $2 in revenue on average.
The amount it costs you to get a lead is known as cost per acquisition.
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Why ROI matters:
By calculating your ROI, you can find out how much money you've made by advertising with
AdWords. You can also use ROI to help you decide how to spend your budget. For example, if you
find that a certain campaign is generating a higher ROI than others, you can apply more of your
budget to the successful campaign and less money to campaigns that aren't performing well. You
can also use ROI data to try improving the performance of the less successful campaigns that aren’t
performing well. You can also use ROI data to try improving the performance of the less successful
campaigns.
Using conversions to measure ROI:
To identify your ROI, you first need to measure conversions, which are customer actions that you
believe are valuable, such as purchases, signups, web page visits, or leads. In AdWords, you can use
the free conversion tracking tool to help track how many clicks lead to conversions. Conversion
tracking can also help you determine the profitability of a keyword or ad, and track conversion rates
and costs-per-conversion.
Tip:
Many AdWords advertisers use Google Analytics to track conversions. It's a free web analytics tool
that helps you learn how your customers interact with your website.
Once you've started to measure conversions, you can begin to evaluate your ROI. The value of each
conversion should be greater than the amount you spent to get the conversion. For example, if you
spend $10 on clicks to get a sale, and receive $15 for that sale, you've made money ($5) and
received a good return on your AdWords investment.
2. Measuring traffic to your website:
If your main advertising goal is to increase traffic to your site, try focusing on increasing your clicks
and click through rate (CTR). Start by creating great ad text and strong keywords to make ads that
are highly relevant and very compelling to your customers, then closely monitor your clicks, CTR,
keywords, and search terms.
Why worry about the relationship between ad text and keywords? Think of a rowboat and an oar,
and the way that they work together to reach a destination. Good keywords can steer a tightly
connected ad towards the right customers, boosting your clicks and CTR.
What to measure:
Here are some important things you can measure to help you track and improve a campaign that's
focused on traffic:
 Clicks and clickthrough rate (CTR): These two metrics help you understand how many
people found your ad compelling enough to actually click on it and visit your website. You
can measure clicks and CTR at all levels of your account. For example, you can see how many
clicks an entire campaign, ad group, or ad received, or you can see how many clicks
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individual keywords have generated after triggering your ads. On the Search Network, a
good CTR is generally considered to be 1% or higher.
 Keywords: Keep a close eye on keyword performance with these strategies:

 Update your keyword lists regularly. Pause or remove the words that aren't working well
for you (for example, if they have CTRs below 1%, or low Quality Scores) and add new
ones. Add columns and segments to your statistics table on your Keywords tab for an
overview of your keywords' clicks, CTR, Quality Scores, and more.
 Use the four keyword matching options to help control who sees your ads. Add the
Match type column to the statistics table on your Keywords tab to see how the different
keyword matching options perform for you. With some options, you'll enjoy more ad
impressions, clicks, and conversions. With others, you'll get fewer impressions and more
narrow targeting.
 For a comprehensive view of keyword quality, run a keyword diagnosis. It gives you
information about your keywords' Quality Scores and whether they're triggering your
ads. A Quality Score of 5 or higher is generally considered good.
 Search terms: When you use broad-match keywords (the default setting), your ads can
appear when someone searches for a variation of your keyword, like a similar phrase or
related word. To see a list of searches that have triggered your ad, go to the Keywords tab of
your account, click Keyword details, then select All. You can use this report to identify
relevant terms that are driving traffic to your website, and then add them as new keywords.
Or, if any of the keywords are irrelevant to your business, you can add them as negative
keywords so they won't trigger your ads.
Tip:
If a keyword has a green "Added" box next to it, then it means you already have that exact search
term in your keyword list.
Example:
If your campaign has the keyword digital cameras on broad match, the report may show that your
ads appeared for the search query "digital cameras London." If your business sells to people in
London, you could add this phrase as a keyword in your account. If you don't serve London, you
could add London as a negative keyword to make sure your ad stops appearing on that search. By
adding irrelevant search terms as negative keywords, you can help improve your click through rate.
3. Measuring sales and conversions:
An Ad Words conversion occurs when someone clicks on your ad and performs a behaviour on your
website that you recognize as valuable, such as calling your business from a mobile phone or making
a purchase on your website. When you use Ad Words to increase conversions or sales, keep track of
your conversions with a free tool called conversion tracking. That way, you can keep an eye on
important statistics like cost-per-conversion and conversion rate that tell you how successful your ad
campaign is.
A conversion is what you choose it to be:

A conversion may be a purchase, but it can also be a call from a mobile phone, a visitor submitting
her contact information for an insurance quote, or a prospective buyer downloading a white paper
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about your company's software capabilities. Or maybe it's a request for more information, or views
of a page that features your new product. It's up to you!
What conversion information you can measure:

Once you've set up conversion tracking, you can keep an eye on some important statistics to help
you measure whether your ad campaign is successful:
Tip:
Learn how to add columns to customize the data in your statistics table. After you set up conversion
tracking, you can add the Conversions columns to any of the statistics tables on your AdWords
account tabs to see data.
 Number of conversions and cost-per-conversion: You can assign monetary values to

your conversions when setting up tracking to get detailed revenue information in your
reports. Reviewing your total number of conversions and the value of these conversions can
help you decide if you should increase your budget or make changes to your ad groups to
attract more targeted visitors.
 Conversion rate: This helps you track how many clicks lead to valuable actions like a sale
or signup. The conversion rate listed in your account is the number of conversions divided by
the number of ad clicks. Conversions are only counted on Google and our Google Network
partners. The conversion rate is adjusted to reflect only the ad clicks on which we can track
conversions.
 Keyword conversion data: conversion tracking shows you what happens after a customer
clicks on your ad -- whether he purchased your product or signed up for your newsletter. By
knowing this, you'll also know which keywords are best at encouraging customers to take
those actions. Then you can improve your keyword list based on your findings, and make
smarter investments in your best keywords.
 See how customers interact with your ads across devices: Sometimes your customers
click on your ad on one device, and then make their purchase on another device. These are
called cross-device conversions, and you can see them in the Estimated Total Conversions
column in your Ad Words account.
 Destination URLs: You can see which destination URLs are leading to the most conversions
on the Dimensions tab of your account. Just click the View button, then select "Destination
URL" from the drop-down, and make sure you've added the conversion columns to your
data table.
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Just as keywords and ad texts should focus on a specific product or service, the destination URL (and
landing page) you choose for each ad should be product or service-specific too. Make sure that the
destination URL you use for each ad directs customers to the most relevant page within your
website. Ideally, that webpage will be dedicated to the specific product or service that's highlighted
in your ad.
Example:
If a real estate agent's ad highlights apartments for sale in London, the ideal landing page may
feature all available apartments for sale in London rather than the real estate agent's homepage.
Customers are much more likely to buy if they don't have to search your website to find what
they're looking for.
Tip:
Many Ad Words customers choose to use Google Analytics for conversion tracking. It's a free web
analytics tool that helps you learn about how your customers interact with your website. Find out
what the differences are between Google Analytics and Ad Words conversion tracking.
Estimated total conversions on properties besides Google.com
Because of technical limitations, we aren’t yet able to report cross-device conversions from AdSense
for Search and some other Google properties. Our teams are hard at work to bring these new
innovative cross-device conversions to these other properties.
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Quality Score:
This column displays your keyword's Quality Score, which is a measurement of how relevant and
useful your ads and landing page are to a person seeing your ad.
This column is available on the Keywords tab only.
Relative CTR:
Relative CTR is a measure of how your ads are performing on the Display Network compared to
other advertisers' ads that are appearing on the same websites.
We calculate Relative CTR by dividing your click through rate by the average clickthrough rate of all
advertisers on the placements where your ads are shown. Because this is a competitive metric, it's
not static. It will change based on the websites where your ad appears and what other advertisers
do.
This column is available on the Campaigns and Ad group tabs only.
Example:
Let's say that an advertiser who sells digital cameras is getting a Display Network CTR of 0.05%. The
advertiser is appearing on a single page about photography on the Display Network with three other
advertisers. The other advertisers are getting CTRs of 0.005%.
The first advertiser is getting a CTR that is 10x larger than the competitors' CTR (0.05%/0.005% = 10).
Because people are more interested in this advertiser's products, this advertiser has a very high
Relative CTR (10).
Served:
This column indicates the percentage of time your ad has been shown in relation to the rest of the
active ads within the same ad group. This column is available on the Ads tab only.
Tip:
When you're comparing % served between two ads, make sure to adjust your date range to a period
of time when both ads were running to produce an accurate comparison.
It's normal for the ad served percentage or the number of impressions accrued for each ad in your
ad group to be different. The following factors influence how often a given ad appears:
 Ad Rotation:
By default, all campaigns are set to optimized ad serving. This means that if one ad has a
higher click through rate (CTR), it will show more frequently than the other ads in your ad
group. This system automatically favors better-performing ads that drive more traffic to your
site.
You can opt out of optimized ad serving if you'd like the Ad Words system to rotate your ads
roughly evenly. If you do so, note that your ads still may accrue different ad served
percentages or numbers of impressions. This is because the Ad Words system considers an
ad's Quality Score when ranking it on a search result page. An ad with a high Quality Score
may appear on the first page of search results, where it accrues an impression every time it's
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served. On the other hand, an ad with a low Quality Score may appear on the second page of
search results, where it will only accrue an impression if the user clicks through to that page.
 Time:
If an ad is created late in the day, it will have a lower ad served percentage at the end of the
day than the existing ads. This difference will decrease over time.
 Approval status:
If an ad has yet to be reviewed and approved, it'll only appear on Google. If it isn't yet
generating impressions on the Google Network, an ad will have a lower ad served
percentage.
Total Cost:
The total costs that a campaign has accrued during the time frame you selected.
This column is available on the Campaigns tab only.
Tip:
It’s possible to compare performance across date ranges and see those results inside the columns of
your statistics table.
Understanding your data:
Measure ad and keyword performance:
Monitor your ads and keywords:

If you really want to succeed with Ad Words, you'll need to regularly review and refine your
account's performance. In particular, you'll want to monitor the status and progress of both your ads
and their keywords.
Viewing your ad performance:

Follow these steps to get to the Ads tab:
3. Click the Ads tab in the middle of the page.
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See how your ads are doing by monitoring these columns in the Ads tab:
 Status: This shows if your ads are running. For example, an "Eligible" status means your ads
may be served.
 CTR (Click through rate): This is one of the main indicators of your ads' health. It shows
how often people click your ad after seeing it. As a rule of thumb, a CTR under 1% on the
Search Network indicates that your ads aren't targeted to a relevant audience. If you find
that your CTR is lower than 1%, try improving your ads using these ad tips.
 Avg. CPC (cost-per-click): Not to be confused with Max CPC, this shows the average
amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Average CPC is determined by totalling
the cost of all clicks and dividing it by the number of clicks. Here's an example: if your ad
receives two clicks, one costing US$0.20 and one costing US$0.40, your average CPC for
those clicks is US$0.30.
Viewing your keyword performance:

Follow these steps to get to the Keywords tab:
1. Sign in to your Ad Words account at https://adwords.google.com.
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3. Click the Keywords tab in the middle of the page.
See how your keywords are doing by monitoring these columns in the Keywords tab:
1. Status: This shows if your keywords are running. For example, an "Eligible" status means
your keyword can trigger ads. Click the bubble next to each keyword's status to see
more performance details such as Quality Score. To see information about many keywords
at once, click the Keyword details drop-down button, then select Diagnose keywords.
2. CTR (Click through rate): This is one of the main indicators of your keywords' health.
Keywords that are too general and produce a CTR lower than 1% on the Search Network can
often be improved. Remove or refine those low-performing keywords and add more specific
and targeted keywords.
3. Quality Score: This helps you monitor your keywords' Quality Score performance. The
Quality Score column is disabled by default in new accounts, but you can make it show in
your account statistics by clicking Customize columns, then enabling "Qual. Score" in the
Attributes settings.
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Tip:
Keep in mind that the performance of your ads and keywords can fluctuate. Web traffic varies from
day to day, and this normal fluctuation may affect the performance of your campaign. In addition,
current events can have the potential to dramatically influence the number of impressions and clicks
you receive.
Available ad extension statistics:
Ad extension statistics are available for ads that appear on Google Search, Google's search partners
for mobile (including Google Maps for mobile), and, in some cases, the Google Display Network.
Here’s what the columns on the Ad extensions tab show:
 Status: Shows if your ad extensions are marked "Approved" or "Disapproved."

Eligible ad extensions will only appear with your ads when they're relevant and the
associated ad is also eligible to run. Learn how to fix a disapproved ad.
 Clicks: How many clicks your ad received when it was displayed with a particular
extension type. This number combines clicks on the ad headline and on the ad
extension, if applicable. To see clicks on just the ad extension, click the Segment
drop-down button and select Click type.
 Impressions: The number of times your ad appeared with the ad extension.
 Click through rate (CTR): The number of clicks your ad received divided by the
number of times your ad was shown with the ad extension.
 Cost: The total cost of clicks on your ad when it appeared with the ad extension.
 Avg. position: The ad's average position on search results pages when shown with
the ad extension.
 Avg. cost-per-click (CPC): The average amount you pay for each click when the ad
appears with the ad extension. Average CPC is determined by totaling the cost of all
clicks and dividing it by the number of clicks received.
Tip:
Enable the Policy details column to see information about why your extensions are disapproved or
limited based on our advertising policies.
To assist you with identifying issues with the status of an ad extension that may not be showing, the
statistics table at the "All Online Campaigns" view will show all of your existing extensions, even if
they have accrued no impressions or clicks. (Your performance metrics may appear as "0" in the
statistics table.) However, when you view the statistics table for a specific campaign, performance
data will only appear within the table for those ad extensions that have received impressions or
clicks.
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Measuring image and video ad performance:

Once your image and video ads are live, you'll want to monitor how they're doing across the Google
Display Network. You can use your campaign statistics tables on the Ads and Dimensions tabs to
review standard performance information for image and video ads. You can also monitor free clicks
interactions to monitor how customers engage with special interactive ad formats. Learn more
About display ad performance reporting for the following:
 Standalone image ads (image ads built outside of the Ad gallery)
 Image ads built with the Ad gallery
 Video ads built with the Ad gallery
See how your display ads are performing:

You can view most of your image ads performance statistics on the Ads tab of your AdWords
account. You can also try out the following reporting options:
 Use the "Free clicks" view on the Dimensions tab to see several additional statistics for your
image and video ads (including those built with the Ad gallery).
 Customize your ads statistics table to show specific placement metrics for your ads
performance on the Display Network. The available performance metrics will vary depending
on the image ad format you’ve chosen.
Track customer interactions with free clicks data:
Display ad formats come in all shapes and sizes. There are various ways to interact with image and
video ads, and depending on the format and pricing you choose, you may have some interactions
with a display ad format that are free. These won't appear in your statistics tables alongside your
normal reporting, but you can run and download the free clicks report to better understand how
your ads are doing. Here are some examples of free clicks statistics:
Display ad mouse over (at least one second):

See instances where customers place their cursors over your display ad for a second or more. This
can help highlight ads that may keep customers’ attention without an actual clickthrough to your
website. This usually demonstrates an ad that needs a stronger call-to-action for the customer.
Display ad interactions:
Depending on the type of ad you build with the Ad gallery, there may be additional variations of
customer interactions available in your report.
Video play 25, 50, 75, and 100% (quartiles):

Learn how much of your video ads customers actually see. Video ads with low play rates or early
viewer drop-off may indicate a creative change that needs to take place to keep people engaged
with the video content.
Example:
The Playbacks through 50% of the video column, for example, will display the number of playbacks
that reached at least halfway through the video. Keep in mind that because people may skip to
different sections of the video, percent playback numbers won't always decline linearly.
Tip:
 "Play rate" is synonymous with "interaction rate" for video ads, as well as "view rate," which
is used for AdWords for video campaigns featuring YouTube's TrueView video formats.
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 You can download free clicks data for additional ad interactions reporting.
Tracking viewer conversions for video ads:
Conversion Tracking:
You can use AdWords conversion tracking to track the number of people who click on a video ad and
ultimately perform the desired conversion action.
Since video advertising doesn’t always drive immediate conversions, we recommend that you look at
view-through conversion data, which shows the number of online conversions that happened within
30 days after a viewer saw, but did not click, your video ad.
Monitor and optimize your Shopping campaigns

Availability:
Product Listing Ads can be targeted to the following countries, where Google Shopping is available:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India,
Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
the U.K., and the U.S.
Monitor your Shopping campaign’s performance:

You can track your Shopping campaign’s performance in a few different ways:
 Use the Product groups tab to see how the ads for your product groups are performing
 Visit the Dimensions tab to view performance data by all available dimensions and product
attributes -- even down to the individual item
Keep in mind:
Product Listing Ads are generated based on the data and feeds you've set up within your Google
Merchant Center account. While you can define product groups within your campaigns, your ad
performance is tightly linked to the data you've provided within your Merchant Center feeds, so
make sure your product data is accurate and up-to-date.
Using the “Product groups” tab to review performance:

In addition to standard AdWords performance metrics like maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC),
impressions, click through rate (CTR), and conversion metrics, Shopping campaigns give you access
to competitive metrics like benchmark click through rate (CTR), benchmark maximum cost-per-click
(max. CPC), and impression share. These metrics can help you see how you compare to other
advertisers advertising similar products.
If you’d like to view your data split into rows based on the options that matter to you most, such as
days of the week, click type, or device, you can download a non-editable product group report using
segments. Note that you can’t segment impression share, benchmark CTR, or benchmark CPC by
device or click type.
From the “Product groups” tab, you can also download editable reports to view your data, then
make changes to your product group bids or destination URLs and upload the updated report back
into your account, where your new changes will be automatically applied.
Here's how to download a product group report:

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3. Choose a Shopping campaign from the side navigation.
4. Choose an ad group in the campaign.
5. Click the Product groups tab.
6. Make sure the table is displaying all of the product groups you may want to edit. Then, click
the download button, which looks like .

7. If you want to segment your data by device, day of the week, or click type, click +Add
segment, then click the drop-down menu and choose the option you want. Note that you
won’t be able to download an editable report if you are using segments. Also, you won’t be
able to segment your impression share, benchmark CTR, or benchmark CPC data by device
or click type. You won’t be able to mark this segmented report “Editable.”
8. To download an editable report, check the box marked Editable. Keep in mind:
 You can’t download an editable report using segments.

 You can only download editable reports in .csv and Excel formats.
 Editable reports default to English, regardless of the user’s locale.
9. Click Download.
Using the “Dimensions” tab to review your performance:

Use the "Dimensions" tab to get detailed and customized performance reporting for your Shopping
campaigns by any available dimension, including product attributes derived from your Merchant
Center product feed like category, product type, item ID, brand, or Merchant Center ID. This gives
you the flexibility to sort and filter your data to align with your product inventory, at any level of
granularity. Then, you can use this data to make informed decisions about where to take your
campaign next.
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From the “Dimensions” tab you can also access competitive metrics like benchmark click-through
rate (CTR), benchmark maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) and impression share. These metrics can
help you see how you compare to other advertisers advertising similar products.
Here’s how to view performance data for your Shopping campaign:

1. Select the Shopping campaign or ad group you want to know about.
2. Click the Dimensions tab.
3. From the View drop-down menu, select Shopping, then choose the attribute you want to
use to sort your performance data: category, product type, item ID, brand, Merchant Center
ID, or store ID.
3. From the View drop-down menu, select Shopping, then choose the attribute you want to
use to sort your performance data: category, product type, item ID, brand, Merchant Center
ID, or store ID.
You can customize the information you want to see on the "Dimensions" tab. Here’s how:
1. From the “Dimensions” tab, click Columns and select Customize columns from the drop-
down menu.
2. To add columns to the tab, choose the type of metrics (“Product attributes,” Performance,”
“Conversions,” “Competitive”) under “Select metrics.”
3. Click Add to select the columns you want to view.
4. To remove a column from the product groups tab, click Remove.
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5. When you’ve finished arranging your columns, click Apply.
You can download non-editable performance reports from the “Dimensions” tab. Use segments if
you’d like to view your data split into rows based on the options that matter to you most, such as
days of the week, click type or device. Note that you can’t segment impression share, benchmark
CTR or benchmark CPC by device or click type.
Here's how to download a non-editable report from the “Dimensions” tab:

1. From the “Dimensions” tab, make sure that the table is displaying all of the information that
you want to see. Then, click the download button, which looks like .
2. If you want to segment your data by device, day of the week or click type, click +Add
segment, then click the drop-down menu and choose the option that you want. Note that
you won’t be able to segment your impression share, benchmark CTR, or benchmark CPC
data by device or click type.
3. Click Download.
Tip:
You can also segment your performance data at the campaign or ad group level to compare traffic
from the Google Search Network and Google search partners. Just go to the Campaigns or Ad
groups tab, click the Segment drop-down menu, and select Network (with search partners).
Monitoring your local shopping channel performance:

If you’re promoting products sold in physical store locations using a Merchant Center Local Products
feed, you can view campaign or ad group level performance reports for your local shopping channel
when you segment your reports by click type from the “Dimensions” tab, “Campaigns” tab, or “Ad
group” tab. We’ll show you data for the four different click types, defined here:
Name of click type What it means
Product Listing Ad Click on an ad where an online product was shown
Product Listing Ad - Local Click on an ad where a local product was shown
Product Listing Ad - Click on the local portion of an ad with two links -- one to the local
Multichannel Local product and one to the online product
Product Listing Ad - Click on the online portion of an ad with two links -- one to the local
Multichannel Online product and one to the online product
Here’s how to view your performance data by shopping channel:

 Go to the Campaigns tab in AdWords.
 From the campaign or ad group you’re interested in, click the Segment drop-down menu,
then select Click type.
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Tip:
Keyword performance:
Keyword status: The Status column of the statistics table on your Keywords tab tells you whether
each of your keywords is triggering ads to run. Click the speech bubble icon to read a summary
of each keyword's status. Or, click the Keyword details drop-down button, then select Diagnose
keywords to see multiple keyword statuses at once.
Quality Score: This column helps you monitor the Quality Scores of your keywords. The column is
disabled by default in new accounts, but you can make it appear in your statistics table by going to
your Keywords tab, then clicking the Columns button.
Search terms: You can see the actual search terms that drove traffic to your ads on your Keywords
tab. From the Keyword details drop-down button, in the "Search terms" section, select All to see a
list of the searches that triggered your ads. You can use this information to identify which keywords
are the most successful and to find new keywords to add to your account. If you see that irrelevant
terms are triggering your ad, you can add these as negative keywords to prevent your ad from
showing on these terms.
Estimated total conversions on properties besides Google.com

Because of technical limitations, we aren’t yet able to report cross-device conversions from AdSense
for Search and some other Google properties. Our teams are hard at work to bring these new
innovative cross-device conversions to these other properties.
Track statistics for mobile ads on high-end devices:
Use the Segment button to see the data in your campaign segmented by device. This allows you to
compare statistics such as clicks, impressions, CTRs, or conversion rates for desktop computers and
high-end mobile devices. Segmenting your data can help you identify which campaigns, ad groups,
ads, or keywords are driving the best performance for a particular type of device, especially for
campaigns combining desktop computer and mobile devices.
Tip:
Here's some data you might not know about. You can see how your destination URLs are performing
for your entire account, or specific campaigns and ad groups. Just click the Dimensions tab, then
click View, and select "Destination URL" from the drop-down.
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Measure keyword performance on the Search Network

Just like all good managers evaluate their employees' performance on a regular basis, you probably
want to review your keywords' performance to see which ones are helping you meet your
advertising goals for your campaigns that target the Google Search Network. To do so, you can view
and download your keyword performance from a specific time period, or customize your AdWords
statistics table to track how your keywords are performing by match type. You can also run a
keyword diagnosis to review your keyword Quality Score.
View & download your keyword performance:

1. Sign into your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com
3. Click the Keywords tab. Make sure your statistics table contains the date range, columns,
filters, and segments you'd like to include in your report. Segments that you've applied to
the data in the table show up in your report as columns.
4. Click the Download button .

5. You'll see a Download and schedule report panel above your statistics table.
6. Name your report, and then choose the type of format.

7. Click Create.
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Note:
Due to the large amount of information that must be collected to create the reports, complete data
for a given day is not available until 3 p.m. PT the following day.
Use specific segments, columns or filters to track keyword statistics:

You can customize your statistics table to view keyword data by the following:
 Segments: Split your data into rows by the options you select (such as date, click type, or
device).
 Columns: Add specific types of data to your statistics table.
 Filters: Search for statistics you'd like to see.
Use segments to see performance of search terms match type:
You can see your keyword data segmented by search terms match type, which are broad, phrase,
and exact match search terms that triggered your keyword. This allows you to compare statistics
such as clicks, impressions, CTRs, or conversion rates for search terms that triggered your ad. Use
segmentation options to identify which keywords are driving the best performance for a particular
search term match type.
To segment your data by search terms match type, click the Segment button above your statistics
table and select "Search terms match type" from the drop-down.
Use columns to track your Quality Score:
Quality Score is a measure of how relevant your ads, keywords, and landing page are to a customer.
Each keyword gets a Quality Score on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the
highest.
To enable your Quality Score column, go to the Keywords tab and click the Columns button above
your statistics table, then choose Customize columns. In the Attributes section, click the Add link
next to Qual. score.
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Use columns to view your first page and top of page bid estimates:
Your first page bid estimate and top of page bid are the approximate cost-per-click (CPC) bids
needed for your ad to reach the first page of Google search results or the top of the page when a
search term exactly matches your keyword. The estimates are based on your Quality Score and
current advertiser competition for that keyword. If your first page bid estimate is very high, it may
mean that your keyword's Quality Score is poor.
To see your first page bid estimate or your estimated top of page bid, go to the Keywords tab and
click the Columns button above your statistics table, then choose Customize columns. In the
Attributes section, click the Add link next to Est. first page bid or Est. top page bid.
Use columns to see the potential impact of bid changes on your Search Network traffic
The bid simulator columns estimate how keyword bid changes of +/- 50%, +300%, and meeting the
top page bid estimate might impact your weekly Search Network clicks and costs.
To see the estimates, go to the Keywords tab and click the Columns button above your statistics
table, then choose Customize columns. In the Bid simulator section, click the Add link next to the
columns that interest you, or click Add all columns.
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Use columns to view your keyword match type
Your keyword match types are the keyword matching options -- broad, phrase, exact -- that we use
to determine which Google searches can trigger your ads to appear. You might see more ad
impressions, clicks, and conversions with some match types, or fewer impressions and more narrow
targeting with others.
To monitor how a particular keyword match type is performing, go to the Keywords tab and click the
Columns button above your statistics table, and then choose Customize columns. In the Attributes
section, click the Add link next to Match type.
Use filters to sort your keyword data
Filters allow you to search for specific types of data so you can easily evaluate the performance of
your keywords. You might filter your data to see which keywords are eligible to trigger ads, or
maybe you'd like to see which keywords have a good return-on-investment.
To create a filter, go to the Keywords tab and click the Filter button, then choose Create filter. In the
filter panel, select which filter you'd like to use from the drop-down menu.
Diagnose your keywords:

If you'd like to know whether your keyword is showing ads or if you'd like to get a snapshot your
keyword's Quality Score, you can easily diagnose your keywords. Follow the steps below whether
you'd like to diagnose individual keywords or multiple keywords at once.
Diagnose individual keywords:

2. Click the Keywords tab.
3. Hover over the speech bubble next to the status of your keyword to see whether your
keyword is showing ads and its Quality Score. If your keyword isn't showing ads, we'll explain
why and help you solve the problem. You'll also see a breakdown of your Quality Score,
which includes your keyword relevance, landing page experience, and landing page loading
time.
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Diagnose multiple keywords at once:

2. Click the Keywords tab.
3. Click the "Details" drop-down menu.
4. Select Diagnose keywords.
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You'll see a Diagnose keywords panel where you can customize your diagnosis to answer specific
questions about your ad's visibility. For example, you can test whether people on specific Google
domains, those using Google in a particular language, or those in particular countries are seeing your
ads. Choose which attributes you'd like to test.
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5. Click Run test.

6. Once you receive results from your diagnosis, the information in the Status column will
change. To see results for a particular keyword, hover over the speech bubble in the Status
column. Click the Close link above the table to clear your diagnosis.
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Note:
The results of your diagnosis are only applicable at the time when you run the diagnosis and may
quickly become outdated. Your most recent diagnosis will be indicated by a timestamp above your
statistics table ("Diagnosis complete - -"). Run a new keyword diagnosis when you want to see fresh
data.
Additional performance insights
Measuring and comparing performance by periods of time

Curious whether your ad is clicked more often on Fridays than Sundays? Want to easily compare ad
group impressions by quarter? AdWords provides multiple ways to compare performance over time.
You can view AdWords performance over time in the following ways:
 Compare performance across two time periods

 Segment your data by time periods
 Use the Time view in the Dimensions tab
Compare performance across two time periods:
Let's say you want to know how your campaigns did last week compared with the week before. Or
maybe you want to see data for the current month compared with this month last year. You can see
all this by using the "compare dates" option in the date range drop down menu.
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3. Click the down arrow in the date range in the upper right corner of your screen.
4. Make sure the "Compare dates" option is set to ON.

5. In the top section of the menu, select the date range you’re interested in. Then, in the
section below "Compare dates" select whether you’d like to compare the Previous period or
the Same period last year or create a Custom comparison. (If you select Custom, you’ll be
prompted to enter a specific date range.)
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1. Click Go. You’ll see results for both time periods charted in your performance graph.
To see the comparison metrics in your statistics table, you’ll need to click on the + icon that has now
appeared in each of your column headers. Doing so will expand a column to in show four columns:
the current time period, the previous time period, the numerical change between the two periods,
and the percentage change.
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Once you choose a time period, both alone and as part of a comparison, those dates apply across
your account (until you change them).
The "compare dates" feature lets you compare performance across two time periods, but not more.
For example, if you want to look at performance per day over the last month, it’s better to use
segments, which we describe below.
Segment your data by time:

Segments can provide a more granular view of your data. For example, say you used the date range
box and selected "Last week" in order to look at overall performance for the last week. But then you
decided you wanted to see that week broken out by day. For this, you would use segments.
Once you create a "Day of the week" segment, your single row of data will become eight rows of
data: the original row plus one new row for every day of the week.
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Click the Segment button above your statistics table and select Time from the drop-down. This splits
your statistics table into rows based on the period of time you select.
Options include:
 Day of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
 Day (e.g., Wed., December 21, 2011)
 Week
 Month
 Quarter
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 Year
 Hour of day
Use the "Time" view in the Dimensions tab:
The Dimensions tab lets you slice and dice your data by period of time across an ad group, a
campaign, or your entire account. For example, you might want to track an ad group's performance
on an hourly basis to see how well it's performing at different times throughout the day. Then you
can use these insights to schedule your ads for the hours when they're most likely to receive the
greatest number of impressions and clicks.
For example, you could run a report to compare your total clicks in January across ad groups, or find
out whether a certain campaign has a better CTR at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. How you view your data is up
to you.
Here's how to see performance by time period in the Dimensions tab:

3. Select the campaign or ad group you'd like to see in the side panel. You can also see
statistics for your entire account by clicking All online campaigns in the panel.
4. To see data for a specific period, click the date range menu on the top right corner of the
page and select the time period you'd like to analyze.
5. Click the Dimensions tab.
6. Click the View button in the toolbar above your statistics table.
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7. Select Time from the drop-down, then choose Day, Week, Month, etc. Your statistics table
will update with time data.
8. Once your statistics table looks the way you want, you can download the data in a report.
Just click the download button in the toolbar.
Tip:
You can also view performance by geographic location and see reach and frequency data on the
Dimensions tab.
Using labels in Ad Words:

With labels, you can organize the elements in your account into meaningful groups so you can
quickly and easily filter and report on the data that is of most interest to you. You can apply labels to
keywords, campaigns, ad groups, and ads, which enables you to see how the custom categories you
create are performing relative to each other and to the unlabelled entities in your account.
Bob is an online retailer that sells apparel and accessories for men and women. He has campaigns
for shoes, clothes and bags for each of his three major markets (New York, Massachusetts and
Pennsylvania) and within the campaigns has separate ad groups for generic and brand keywords.
This structure (ex: New York - Shoes - Generic and Massachusetts - Shoes - Generic) means that he
has the same ads and keywords in different parts of his account. Without labels, Bob can't easily sort
his account or run a report to see how well sneakers are selling in New York compared to
Massachusetts. With labels, however, Bob can create the label "sneakers" and apply it to all sneaker-
related keywords across his account. He can then filter by this label on the Keywords tab to only see
sneaker keywords, or can use the Dimensions tab labels reports to aggregate performance by label.
These reports allow him to compare, for example, how sneakers perform against all other shoes, or
how the label "sneakers" compares with other individual labels.
Understanding labels
The diagram below illustrates how you can use labels to gauge the performance of custom
categories across your account. In this example, you've applied two labels, "Favourite" and "Brand"
to different elements in your account. It's important to know that labels aren't inherited down
throughout the campaign. This means that if you apply a label to a campaign, the label only applies
to that campaign, not the ad groups and keywords that are within that campaign. If you want a label
to apply to an ad group or individual keyword as well, you'll need to specifically apply the label to
each.
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There are four kinds of labels reports you can run, one for each element-type: campaigns, ad groups,
ads, and keywords. They're located on the Dimensions tab in the "labels" view.
Campaign-level Reporting
When you run a labels report for your campaigns, you see the label "Favorite" is associated with 18
clicks. That's because the total clicks for all the keywords under the Campaign #1, which has the
"Favorite" label applied to it, was 18. The label "Brand" is associated with 15 clicks because the
keywords in Campaign #2, which has the "Brand" label applied to it, received 15 clicks. The
"Everything Else" row is blank because there are no campaigns in this account without labels.
Label Clicks
Favourite 18
Brand 15
Everything Else 0
Ad Group-level Reporting
But, because labels are not inherited, things look different when you run a report at the ad group
level. In this account, there is only one ad group with a label applied to it: Ad group #2 in Campaign
#1. The keywords under this ad group received a total of four clicks. So, when you run a labels report
for your ad groups, the label "Favourite" is credited with four clicks. The label "Brand" received zero
clicks at the ad group level because there are no ad groups in this account with the label "Brand".
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The "Everything Else" has 29 clicks because that's how many clicks there were on keywords in
unlabelled ad groups.
Label Clicks
Favourite 4
Brand 0
Everything Else 29
Keyword-level Reporting
Reporting at the keyword level provides a different view. Here, "Favourite" received 17 clicks
(keywords A and E), and "Brand" received 12 clicks (keywords A and F) because those are the total
clicks on keywords with those labels. Note that the seven clicks for keyword A are counted in both
rows because keyword A has both labels applied to it. Because it's likely that many of your keywords
will have more than one label, it's unlikely that the number of clicks in each row will add up to the
total number of clicks. In this report, "Everything Else" has 11 clicks because that's the total number
of clicks triggered by unlabelled keywords in this account.
Label Clicks
Favourite 17
Brand 12
Everything Else 11
Managing labels:
There's more than one way to manage the labels in your account. You can create, add, and remove
labels directly from the labels drop down menu above your statistics tables on the Keyword,
Campaign, Ad groups, and Ads tabs. However, if you want to add or remove labels as well as edit
your label names, description, and colors, or see how many elements are designated with a
particular label, you can visit the Labels admin page by clicking on the link on the left side of your
screen.
Click the links below for steps on how to do the following:
Apply & remove labels using your Campaigns, Ads, Ad groups, and Keyword tab:
1. Click the Keywords tab (or the Ad groups, Ads or Campaigns tab).
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2. Using the "Customize columns" button, add the "Labels" column to your statistics table if it's not
there already.
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2. Select the keyword you'd like to apply a label to.

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3. Click the "labels" drop down menu.
4. Select the labels you'd like to apply, or create a new one in the drop down menu.
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5. Click "Apply".
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Applying labels in bulk:
To apply a label to all entities in a table, including the ones on subsequent pages that aren’t shown
on the first page, follow the steps below:
2. Using the "Customize columns" button, add the "Labels" column to your statistics table
if it's not there already.
3. Check the box on the upper left corner of the table. This will select all of the keywords
(or ads, ad groups, or campaigns) currently visible in the table.
4. Click the message at the top of the table that says “Select all rows across all pages.”
5. Then click the “Labels” button above the table and select the label you want to apply (or
create a new one).
6. Click “Apply.”
You’ll see a message that your labels are being applied. If it’s a large job, this may take some time.
1. Click “Run in background” if you’d like to leave this page. To monitor the progress, you
can check on this request by clicking “Bulk Operations” and selecting “Bulk Edit.” Here
you can view the status of all your bulk editing requests.
2. Filter by label using your campaigns, Ads, Ad groups, and Keywords tab:
3. To apply a label to all entities in a table, including the ones on subsequent pages that
aren’t shown on the first page, follow the steps below:
5. Using the "Customize columns" button, add the "Labels" column to your statistics table
if it's not there already.
6. Check the box on the upper left corner of the table. This will select all of the keywords
(or ads, ad groups, or campaigns) currently visible in the table.
7. Click the message at the top of the table that says “Select all rows across all pages.”
8. Then click the “Labels” button above the table and select the label you want to apply (or
create a new one).
9. Click “Apply.”
You’ll see a message that your labels are being applied. If it’s a large job, this may take some
time.
1. Click “Run in background” if you’d like to leave this page. To monitor the progress, you
can check on this request by clicking “Bulk Operations” and selecting “Bulk Edit.” Here
you can view the status of all your bulk editing requests.
Manage labels from the labels admin page:
You can get to the best place for managing your labels by clicking "Labels" in the left panel of your
AdWords account. Here you can see all your labels, and how many campaigns, ad groups, ads, and
keywords are designated with each. If you click on a number in either the campaigns, ad groups, ads,
or keywords columns of this table, you'll be taken to a new table filtered for just that label and
entity.
You can also add and remove labels as well as edit label names, descriptions, and colors.
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To change the name of a label, or its colour, or to add or edit a description, click the label name or
the colour square and a pop-up box will appear allowing you to type in a new name, or select a new
colour.
View your performance data by label:

Here's how to view your Labels performance data on the Dimensions tab:
1. Click the Dimensions tab
2. Click "View"
3. In the drop down menu, select "Labels"
4. Then select whether you'd like to view Labels data by keyword, ad, ad group, or
campaign.
5. In the statistics table you'll see your performance data broken out by label at the level
you selected for the date range you've specified. The last row, called the "Everything
Else row" shows a summary of performance for all elements that are not associated with
the labels in the table.
Tip:
The "Everything Else" row shows a summary of performance for all elements that are not associated
with the labels in the table. In the case of an unfiltered labels report, the Everything Else row will
contain the total performance for all keywords without a label. But, if you filter the report to show
two of five labels, the Everything Else row will contain results for all keywords without those two
labels.
This row comes in handy, for instance, when you are labelling branded vs non-branded keywords.
Since your branded keywords likely represent 10-20 keywords, you do not need to create a label for
the thousands of non-branded keywords in your account. Rather, you can simply run a report on the
branded label and see the results from the non-branded keywords reflected in the Everything Else
row.
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Measuring paid & organic search results

You know that you can use AdWords reporting tools to see how often your ads are showing to
potential customers, and which keywords are triggering those impressions. With the paid & organic
report, you can also see how often pages from your website are showing in Google’s free organic
search results, and which search terms triggered those results to show on the search results page.
This information helps you better understand how paid and organic search work together to help
you reach people searching online, use the organic results to identify new, potentially valuable
keywords, and gain a holistic view of how your online presence is performing overall in terms of
attracting views and clicks.
In this article, we’ll explain what specific insights you can gain from the paid & organic report, why
these insights matter and what you need to do to enable this report in your AdWords account.
In order to use the paid & organic report, you’ll need to have a Webmaster Tools account for your
website, and you’ll need to link that Webmaster Tools account to your AdWords account.
(Webmaster Tools is a free Google tool that gives you data and tips to help you understand and
improve your search traffic.) Once you link your accounts, you’ll be able to view your organic search
results right alongside the performance statistics for your AdWords campaigns.
Example:
Karen runs a website that sells travel guides for destination all over the world. When she looks at her
paid & organic report, she sees that her site appears every now and then in organic search results
for the search query "Hawaii vacations." She also sees that the organic clicks/query rate is relatively
high, which means that lots of people searching for "Hawaii vacations" who see Karen’s site listings
actually click through to her site. Karen sees this as a great opportunity to attract even more people
interested in her business to her site, and she decides to add keywords like "Hawaii vacations" to her
relevant AdWords campaigns.
A few uses for paid or organic results:

The new paid & organic report provides a holistic view of your search stats across ads and organic
listings at the query level. This lets you analyse strengths and gaps in your overall search presence,
and gives insight into how your paid and organic search listings work together to connect your
business with people searching on Google. Here are three simple and powerful use cases for this
report:
Discover additional keywords:
 Use the report to discover potential keywords to add to your AdWords accounts by looking
for queries where you only appear in organic search with no associated ads.
 You can identify queries with a low number of paid impressions by adding a filter for "ad
impressions = 0" or "ad impressions < X" (if you have multiple accounts, all organic search
data will be imported in each account).
 Downloading a paid & organic report in a My Client Center (MCC) account (for AdWords
accounts with the same language and geo settings) will allow you to find duplicate organic
queries and identify queries that have no paid impressions across any accounts.
 You can also add an additional filter to identify queries containing specific text, like your
brand name or your most important products and services.
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Optimize presence on high-value queries:
 Use the report to improve your presence in paid results and monitor your high value queries
for organic results.
 Identify relevant queries for your business that have low organic traffic volume and target
these queries to strengthen your paid search presence.
 Consider showing a more useful, prominent and differentiated message from your organic
listing by tailoring your ad text and using extensions.
Measure changes holistically:
 As you test website improvements or changes to bids, budgets, or keywords, you can more
easily see the impact across paid, organic, and combined traffic.
 See how changing your keyword bids increases or decreases overall combined clicks for
related queries, and work to cost-effectively increase your overall traffic for your most
important queries.
 Understand how ads may impact your combined performance for certain queries by
comparing the "organic only" and "both shown" segments for the same query. For example,
you may want to see how your clicks/query differ when you have both types of listings on
the page, compared to when you just have one or the other.
Understanding the paid & organic report:

Once you’ve set up paid & organic report on your account, you can view it on the Dimensions tab.
The report is updated once a day.
Here are the columns found in the paid & organic report and definitions for each metric:
Ads
Ad Clicks The number of times someone clicked your ad when it showed for a particular query.
Ad How many times your ad has appeared on a search results page or website on the
Impressions Google Network.
How often people who see your ad end up clicking it. CTR can be used to gauge how
Ad CTR
well your keywords and ads are performing.
The average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Average CPC is
Ad Avg. CPC
determined by totalling the cost of all clicks and dividing it by the number of clicks.
Ad Avg
Helps explain where your ads rank, on average, on the search results page.
Position
Organic
The number of times someone clicked your site's listing in the unpaid results for a
Organic Clicks
particular query.
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A web search. This column indicates the total number of searches that returned
Organic Queries
pages from your site over the given period.
Organic The number of clicks you’ve received on your organic search listings divided by
Clicks/Query the total number searches that returned pages from your site.
Organic A listing is when a page of your site is returned as a search result. This column
Listings/query indicates the average number of times a page from your site was listed per query.
Organic Avg Average position is calculated by taking the average top position of your listing (or
Position multiple listings) for each query.
Combined ads and

organic
This column represents the number of times a person clicked either:

Ads and Organic
Clicks  one of your ads
 one of your organic search listings
A query is a web search. This column indicates the total number of searches that
Ads and Organic
returned pages from your site in the organic search results or triggered one of
Queries
your ads.
The number of clicks you’ve received on your ads or organic listings divided by
the total number queries that either:
Ads and Organic
Clicks/Query
 returned a page from your site
 triggered one of your ads
Though they're not shown by default, you can add Keyword, Ad Group or Campaign columns to your
report by clicking Columns > Customize columns > Ad stats and selecting the column type you want
to add.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:

 Investment in paid search has no impact on your organic search ranking. Google maintains a
strict separation between our search business and our advertising business.
 Organic results are not constrained by your AdWords campaigns’ ad targeting settings. In
other words, your ads are limited by the languages and locations you target in your
AdWords account, but your organic search listings are not. That means it’s possible to have
more organic impressions than paid impressions even if your campaigns have 100%
impression share. For example, if your ad campaign for a given keyword is targeted just to
the United States, an organic impression occurring in Canada would still show up in your
paid & organic report for that keyword even though you don't advertise there.
 Your organic data is only reported back to the date you starting importing it from webmaster
tools, so you won't see historical organic data before you established that link.
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 The organic data you see is based on all domains you've linked to your account. At this time,
we don't have a way to filter organic traffic to just a subset of linked domains.
 Your PLA, text ad, and organic search result can appear together in search results. When this
happens:
 The default paid & organic report records PLA impressions in the “Ad shown only” row, not
the “Both shown” row.
 Reports with added columns for campaign, ad group, or keyword won’t match the default
report. This is because the impression is assigned to either search ads or PLAs - not both.
Setting up the paid & organic report:
In order to view the paid & organic report, you must have your Webmaster Tools account linked to
your AdWords account. If you don’t have a Webmaster Tools account, you can set one up at anytime
on the Webmaster Tools site.
Linking your Webmaster Tools account to your AdWords account:

2. Click the gear menu ( ) and select "Account settings."
3. Click "Linked accounts" in the navigation bar.
Under the "Webmaster Tools" section, click "View details."

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In the text box, enter the URL for the website you want to link (i.e. www.example.com).
6. Click "Continue."
7. If accounts link successfully, you’ll get a "Congratulations" message. Click Done.
Note: in order for the accounts to link successfully, the administrator for your AdWords
account must be the owner of the website (and the associated Webmaster Tools account)
you are trying to link. If you’re not listed as an owner on the Webmaster Tools account,
AdWords will help you send a message to the current owner requesting access. If there’s no
Webmaster Tools account set up for the site you’re trying to link, AdWords will prompt you
to "Claim it" at Webmaster Tools and provide the link to do so.
Tip:
In order to see all of your organic data, there are a few things to keep in mind when setting up
Webmaster Tools and linking to your AdWords account.
 When claiming a domain in Webmaster Tools, add both the www and non-www versions of
your domain to your Webmaster Tools account (http://www.example.com and
http://example.com).
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 If your site uses HTTPS, also claim both variations of the HTTPS versions
(https://www.example.com and https://example.com).
 In your AdWords account, link both www and non-www versions of your site (no need to
specify HTTP or HTTPS, just example.com and www.example.com).
Managing your linked Webmaster Tools accounts in AdWords:

2. Click the gear menu ( ) and select "Account settings."
3. Click "Linked accounts" in the navigation bar.
Under the "Webmaster Tools" section, click "View details."
This page lists all your linked Webmaster Tools accounts. You can sort this page by "Date modified"
or "Status."
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Depending on the status of a Webmaster Tools account, which is listed underneath the site’s URL,
you’ll have different management options to choose from. If an account is linked, you’ll have the
option to "unlink." Other options include sending a request to access a Webmaster Tools account,
retrying to "claim" an unclaimed site at Webmaster Tools, and requesting access if your access has
been revoked.
Check and understand Quality Score:

The 1-10 Quality Score reported for each keyword in your account is an estimate of the quality of
your ads and landing pages triggered by that keyword. Having a high Quality Score means that our
systems think your ad and landing page are relevant and useful to someone looking at your ad. You
can find out your Quality Score for any of your keywords.
Example:
Let's say that you own a website that specializes in socks, and Sam, a customer, is looking for striped
socks. Wouldn't it be great if Sam typed "striped socks" into Google search, saw your ad about
striped socks, clicked it, and then landed on your webpage and bought some spiffy new striped
socks?
What would happen if, on the other hand, Sam simply saw an ad about "socks" or "clothes,"
especially if he saw it together with a competitor's ad about "striped socks"?
In the first case, the customer searches and finds exactly what he's looking for. That's what we
consider a great user experience, and that's what can earn you a high Quality Score. What's more,
relevant ads tend to earn more clicks, appear in a higher position, and bring you the most success.
Checking your Quality Score:

You can check your Quality Score by looking within your Keywords tab. There are a couple ways to
check your Quality Score, as shown below.
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1. Run a keyword diagnosis:

3. Select the Keywords tab.
4. Click the white speech bubble next to any keyword's status to see details about that
keyword's Quality Score. You'll be able to see ratings for expected clickthrough rate, ad
relevance, and landing page experience.
Another way to see your Quality Score is to enable the Qual. score column:
2. Select the Keywords tab.
3. Look for the Qual. score column in the statistics table. If you don't see this column in your
table, you can add this column by doing the following:
4. Click the Columns drop-down menu in the toolbar above the statistics table.
5. Select Customize columns.
6. Select Attributes.
7. Click Add next to Qual. score.
8. Click Save.
Each keyword gets a Quality Score on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the
highest. Keep in mind that Quality Score is intended to give you a general sense of the quality of
your ads, but it doesn't take into account any auction-time factors, such as someone's actual search
terms, type of device, language preference, location, or the time of day. Similarly, the components
of Quality Score that you see in your account -- expected clickthrough rate (CTR), ad relevance, and
landing page experience, each with a descriptive estimate such as "average" or "above average" --
also don't consider auction-time factors.
Instead, every time one of your ads competes in the auction, AdWords calculates real-time
measurements of expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience that, together with your
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bid and other factors, produce a score called Ad Rank. It's this auction-time Ad Rank -- not the
Quality Score estimates you see in your account -- that determines where your ad appears on the
page or whether it appears at all.
How the components of Quality Score affect Ad Rank:
Every time someone does a search that triggers an ad that competes in an auction, we calculate an
Ad Rank. This calculation incorporates your bid, auction-time measurements of expected CTR, ad
relevance, landing page experience, and other factors. To determine the auction-time quality
components, we look at a number of different factors.
By improving the following factors you can help improve the quality components of your Ad Rank:
 Your ad's expected CTR: This is based in part on your ad's historical clicks and impressions
(excluding factors such as ad position, extensions, and other formats that may have affected
the visibility of an ad that someone previously clicked)
 Your display URL's past CTR: The historical clicks and impressions your display URL has
received
 The quality of your landing page: How relevant, transparent, and easy-to-navigate your
page is
 Your ad/search relevance: How relevant your ad text is to what a person searches for
 Geographic performance: How successful your account has been in the regions you're
targeting
 Your targeted devices: How well your ads have been performing on different types of
devices, like desktops/laptops, mobile devices, and tablets
How ad quality affects you:

The quality components of Ad Rank are used in several different ways and can affect the following
things in your account:
 Ad auction eligibility: Having better quality components typically makes it easier and
cheaper for your ads to enter an auction. Our measures of ad quality also help determine
whether your ad is qualified to appear at all.
 Your actual cost-per-click (CPC): Higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs. That
means you pay less per click when your ads are higher quality.
 Your keyword's first page bid estimate: Higher quality ads are typically associated with
lower first page bid estimates. That means it's easier for your ads to show on the first page
of search results when they have high quality components (expected CTR, ad relevance, and
landing page experience).
 Your keyword's top of page bid estimate: Higher quality ads are typically associated with
lower top of page bid estimates. That means it's easier for your ad to show towards the top
of the page when your ads are higher quality.
 Ad position: Higher quality ads lead to higher ad positions, meaning they can show up
higher on the page.
Eligibility for ad extensions and other ad formats: Some ad formats require a minimum ad
quality threshold to show. In addition, your Ad Rank determines whether or not your ad is
eligible to be displayed with ad extensions and other ad formats, such as sitelinks. Because
Ad Rank is a function of the components of Quality Score, higher quality ads can increase the
likelihood that your ad is displayed with extensions and other formats.
In a nutshell, higher quality ads typically lead to lower costs and better ad positions. The
AdWords system works best for everybody – advertisers, customers, publishers, and Google
– when the ads we show are relevant, closely matching what customers are looking for.
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Relevant ads tend to earn more clicks, appear in a higher position, and bring you the most
success.
Understanding landing page experience

Landing page experience refers to how good we think someone's experience will be when they get
to your landing page (the web page they end up on after clicking your ad). You can improve your
landing page experience by:
 providing relevant, useful, and original content,
 promoting transparency and fostering trustworthiness on your site (for example, by
explaining your products or services before asking visitors to fill out forms sharing their own
information),
 making it easy for customers to navigate your site (including on mobile sites), and
 Encouraging customers to spend time on your site (for example, by making sure your page
loads quickly so people who click your ad don’t give up and leave your site prematurely).
 Your landing page experience affects not only your Quality Score, but also your Ad Rank and
advertising costs.
Why landing page experience matters:

 Landing pages are kind of like cars – make sure they're tuned-up properly, and you'll likely
get better performance and savings out of them down the road. Get more mileage out of
your landing page by making it easier for visitors to make a purchase, sign up for a
newsletter, or do other things you want them to do on your website.
 Improving your landing page experience
 We use a combination of automated systems and human evaluation to determine landing
page experience on your site. Your ads may show less often (or not at all) if they point to
websites that offer a poor user experience. If you're trying to improve your landing page
experience, it might be time to give your landing pages a tune-up. Try reviewing the general
guidelines below to help you think of ways to improve your landing page experience and get
better performance out of your landing pages down the road.
Relevant, useful and original content

 Make sure your landing page is directly relevant to your ad text and keyword.
 Provide useful information on your landing page about whatever you're advertising.
 Try to offer useful features or content those are unique to your site.
Transparency and trustworthiness

 Make it easy for visitors to find your contact information.
 If you request personal information from customers, make it clear why you’re asking for it
and what you’ll do with it.
 Distinguish sponsored links, like ads, from the rest of your site content.
 Openly share information about your business and clearly state what your business does.
Ease of navigation
 Don't make people hunt around for the information they might need.
 Make it quick and easy for people to order the product mentioned in your ad.
 Don’t annoy customers with pop-ups or other features that interfere with their navigation
on your site.
 Make sure people can easily find information to learn more about the advertised product.
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The AdWords system visits and evaluates landing pages on a regular basis. If you've made significant
changes to improve your landing page experience, it could lead to higher ad quality (and higher Ad
Rank) over time. You might not see an immediate impact, but you may see results within days or
weeks.
Your landing page loading time:
If it takes too long for your website to load when someone clicks on your ad, they're more likely to
give up and leave your website. This unwelcome behaviour can signal to Google that your landing
page experience is poor, which could negatively impact your Ad Rank. That's why you want to make
sure your landing page load time is up to speed.
Here are a few tips to help improve your load time:

1. Make sure your landing page loads quickly once someone clicks on your ad, whether on a
desktop or mobile device.
2. Help customers quickly find what they’re looking for by prioritizing the content that’s visible
above-the-fold.
3. Learn how you or your webmaster can use PageSpeed Insights to measure the performance
of your landing page.
Mobile visits to your landing page:
The AdWords system will also visit your landing page to evaluate your site as viewed by iPhones and
other mobile devices with full browsers.
Currently, we use the following HTTP User-Agent header to identify AdWords mobile visits:
AdsBot-Google-Mobile (+http://www.google.com/mobile/adsbot.html) Mozilla (iPhone; U; CPU
iPhone OS 3 0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile Safari
If you have a distinct, mobile-optimized version of your site, we recommend you configure your
server to show the mobile-optimized site when the AdWords mobile User-Agent is detected.
Viewing your website's landing page experience:
You can view an estimate of the landing page experience for any of your destination sites by going
into your Keywords tab and placing your cursor over the speech bubble next to the status of any
keyword. The landing page experience could be:
 Above average or Average: If you see either of these two statuses, you're in good shape –
your Quality Score won't be negatively affected by your landing page experience.
 Below average: This means that your landing page experience may be in need of
improvement, and your Quality Score might be lower as a result. You might want to consider
some changes to improve your website's landing page, using the factors discussed in this
article as your guide.
Landing page experience vs. Site policies:
When we review landing pages, we sometimes come across pages that don't follow our Advertising
Policies. For example, if your landing page happens to contain malware (like a virus), that's a pretty
bad landing page. Rather than giving you a "Below average" landing page experience status, you
won't get a score at all. Instead, you'll see "Not applicable" as your landing page experience status,
and any keywords or ads pointing to that website will get a "Site suspended" status. This status
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means that your website can't be advertised with AdWords because it doesn't follow one or more of
our site policies.
Site policies refer to the Advertising Policies that must be followed on your landing pages and
website in order to advertise on AdWords. If your landing page or website contains something that
we don't allow, like malware or illegal products, we might suspend your website to protect our
customers. When a website is suspended, that means you won't be able to advertise that suspended
website until all policy violations have been resolved.
Track sales and other conversions:

Conversion Tracking helps you track your customers' important actions, such as online purchases
and calls to your business from a mobile phone. Learn how to set up this feature and see reports
about these and other important parts of your campaign.
Learn about conversions
Understanding conversion tracking

Conversion Tracking is a free tool that shows you what happens after a customer clicks on your ads -
- whether they purchased your product, signed up for your newsletter or filled out a form to receive
more information.
By tracking these actions, known as "conversions," you'll know which ads, keywords and campaigns
bring you business. This helps you invest more wisely in the best ones and ultimately, boost your
return on investment (ROI).
Example:
You have a website for your clothing store, and when customers submit their orders online, they see
a "Thank you for your purchase!" Pages:
You want to see which of your keywords – "blue jeans" or "buy designer jeans" – leads to more
purchases, so you set up Conversion Tracking. First, you get a single snippet of code from AdWords
that contains HTML and JavaScript. Then, you paste that code snippet in the HTML for the "Thank
you for your purchase!" Pages:
Soon, you start to see that customers who click on your ad with "buy designer jeans" as a keyword
buy a lot of jeans. Meanwhile, you see that a few people click on the ad with "blue jeans" as a
keyword, but none of them make a purchase. So, you decide to stop investing in the "blue jeans"
keyword and put more money towards the "buy designer jeans" keyword, resulting in more
purchases and a better return on your investment.
Read on to learn more about conversions, why you'd want to use conversion tracking, how it works
and how we protect your customers' privacy and security.
Conversion:
A conversion is a customer action that has value to your business, such as purchase, downloading an
app, visiting a website, filling out a form or signing a contract. Online and offline actions are called
conversions because a customer's click translated – or converted – to business.
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Why measure conversions:

Measuring conversions is helpful for your business if you're trying to do the following:
 Connect your ads and keywords to your business goals: Maybe you want people to view a
particular page more, or you'd like more purchases. Conversion Tracking can show you
which keywords are helping you meet those specific goals by connecting them to actions.
 Boost your ROI: Not all keywords are equal. But if you know which keywords bring you the
most business and which ones don't, you can make smarter investments in those keywords
and avoid the unhelpful ones altogether.
 See how customers interact with your ads across devices: Sometimes your customers click
on your ad on one device, and then make their purchase on another device. These are called
cross-device conversions, and you can see them in the Estimated Total Conversions column
in your AdWords account.
Counting conversions:
There are two important Conversion Tracking metrics: conversions and converted clicks. You can
view both metrics in your conversion tracking reports.
 Conversions
For each conversion action, you can choose to count all or unique conversions. The
"Conversions" column of your reports will display all conversions within your chosen
conversion window, according to your selected counting method. The "All" setting is useful
for counting all instances of sales, while "Unique" is used to count only one conversion when
the same person generates multiple leads (example: one person fills out multiple forms
requesting to be contacted about one of your services).
 Converted clicks
The "Converted clicks" column shows you the number of AdWords ad clicks resulting in one
or more conversions within your chosen conversion window. Note that the converted clicks
count doesn't reflect the relative value of each converting click. Clicks that lead to high-value
conversions (such as multiple purchases) aren’t distinguished from those that lead to low-
value conversions (such as a single newsletter sign-up).
How it works and set-up
Conversion Tracking works by adding a single snippet of HTML and JavaScript code to your webpage
(without slowing it down, of course). Specifically, this snippet is placed on the page your customers
see after they complete a conversion -- the "Thank you" page they see after a purchase, for example.
Every time a customer clicks your ad on Google.com or selected Google Network sites, a temporary
cookie is placed on the customer's computer so a conversion can be recorded when the customer
reaches the conversion page.
Online conversions
To set up conversion tracking for your website, you'll generate the snippet of HTML and JavaScript
code in AdWords. Then, you'll place the code on your website. See our set-up guide below for step-
by-step directions.
Offline conversions
If you’d like to track offline conversions, such as a sale over the phone or in your office, you’ll follow
steps for tracking and importing offline conversions so that you can view them in AdWords.
Security and privacy:

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Google's security standards are strict. Only pages containing the Google conversion code are tracked
through this program. We use data encryption and secure servers.
Privacy is also very important to Google. That's why we do the following to protect your customers'
privacy:
 Conversion Tracking cookies persist for a limited time only.

 Conversions aren't isolated: This means that you can't match conversion data to specific
customers, just see overall data for ads and keywords.
 Conversion Tracking includes the option to notify customers about cookies: During the
setup process, we'll help you create a notification box for your website that lets your
customers know they're being tracked. This is known as the Google Site Stats box, which
appears on your conversion page -- the page customers see after they complete a
 conversion. This notification appears only for customers

who've been referred by Google to your site. When customers click on it, Google tells them
that they don't have to accept the conversion cookie if they don't want to and reminds them
that none of their personal information is being recorded or used in any way. Customers will
also have an opportunity to provide feedback about your website.
 Promote a clear privacy policy: If you don't use the Google Sites Stats box, we ask that you
review your website's privacy policy to make sure it discloses your use of tracking
technology.
Tip:
For the Google Site Stats notification, we recommend placing the image in the lower-right hand
corner of the conversion page, no further than a quarter of the screen away from the last line of
content
How Google uses conversion data

At Google, we are aware of the importance and sensitivity of conversion data to our advertisers. As
such, we take care to preserve the confidentiality and security of AdWords conversion data, and
provide clear information about the limited ways conversion data is used.
What Google does with conversion data:

Google uses conversion data for campaign performance reporting in your account, as an input for
features such as Conversion Optimizer, and in aggregate for the benefit of advertisers. It is Google's
policy to restrict access to conversion data, both inside and outside Google. We do not share
conversion data with other advertisers.
When you track conversions, this conversion data will appear in your reports to help you make
informed campaign management decisions. Reports containing your conversion data are available
through your AdWords account and any linked My Client Center accounts.
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Google may also use conversion data to improve your campaign performance. For example, Google
provides Conversion Optimizer; an optional feature that automatically optimizes your bids based on
past conversion data, with the goal of improving your overall ROI. Google may use conversion data
to improve the performance of certain types of campaigns without requiring you to opt in. For
example, Google may use app download conversion data to stop promoting your app to a user who
has already installed it.
Finally, Google uses aggregated conversion data for the overall benefit of advertisers. For example,
features such as Conversion Optimizer and smart pricing rely on aggregate advertiser conversion
data to improve their overall quality and accuracy. As such, if you are tracking conversions and your
competitors are benefiting from some of these features; it is possible that your use of conversion
tracking is indirectly affecting the cost of your clicks.
About revenue information:

Sharing revenue information isn't required to use AdWords conversion tracking. Conversion tags can
be placed on any page on your site and by default they measure distinct conversion events rather
than monetary values.
Increase conversions with Conversion Optimizer
About Conversion Optimizer

 The goal of Conversion Optimizer is to get you the most conversions given your cost-per-
acquisition (CPA) goals. Rather than focusing on clicks (CPC) or impressions (CPM),
Conversion Optimizer focuses on maximizing conversions.
 With Conversion Optimizer, you can set either a maximum cost-per-acquisition (max. CPA),
which is the most you're willing to pay for each conversion, or a target cost-per-acquisition
(target CPA), which is the average amount you'd like to pay for a conversion.
 Conversion Optimizer will focus either on conversions or converted clicks depending on the
conversion bid metric that you choose on your conversion settings page.
How Conversion Optimizer works
Using historical information about your campaign, Conversion Optimizer automatically finds the
optimal equivalent CPC bid for your ad each time it's eligible to appear. You still pay per click, but
you no longer need to adjust your bids manually to reach your conversion goals.
Example:
Angela sells new and vintage concert T-shirts online. She had been successfully using contextual
targeting to reach potential customers while they spend time on music blogs and read online
entertainment magazines, but she thought there was still room for improvement. So she decided to
try Conversion Optimizer.
Angela knew that, on average, she'd like to pay $5.00 for a conversion on her site, so she set this as
her target CPA bid and then let Conversion Optimizer do the rest. A few weeks later, Angela checked
in on her campaign's performance. She was pleased to discover that her conversion rate improved
by more than 0.5%!
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Here are some examples of likely ways Conversion Optimizer accomplished this increase:
 It found that, over time, a blog about '80's bands drove conversions at a high cost by sending
Angela many clicks that weren't translating into conversions. Bid levels for this site were
automatically lowered until Angela's ads stopped appearing on this website, thus freeing up
budget for higher performing websites.
 It found that, across the board, Angela's ads received clicks at lower costs on sites with a
heavy metal band theme. In addition, clicks from visitors to these websites resulted in a high
percentage of conversions. So Conversion Optimizer made sure to bid successfully on even
more Display Network sites related to heavy metal bands.
Requirements of Conversion Optimizer:
You'll need to meet the following requirements to begin using Conversion Optimizer:
 Your campaign uses AdWords Conversion Tracking or cross-account conversion tracking, or

is importing data from Google Analytics.
 The campaign should usually receive at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days. This
conversion history enables the system to make accurate predictions about your future
conversion rate. So, the more data we have, the more accurate we can be. In some cases,
you may be able to use Conversion Optimizer without campaign history if you already have
conversion data elsewhere in your account.
Keep in mind:
 Conversion Optimizer bids will be used instead of any bid adjustments you’ve set (except
where you’ve set a mobile bid adjustment of -100%). Note that you don’t need to remove
bid adjustments—they just won’t be used.
 Conversion Optimizer automatically accounts for differences in conversion rates across
devices, days, times, and locations.
 If one of your ad groups is using both Conversion Optimizer and remarketing lists for search
ads (RLSAs), the bid set by Conversion Optimizer will be used instead of any RLSA-related bid
adjustments. However, your bids will be optimized based on whether people are on your
remarketing lists.
 Conversion Optimizer can't be used with Shopping campaigns.
 Separate Display Network bids can't be used with Conversion Optimizer. Conversion
Optimizer automatically optimizes your bids across the Search and Display Networks.
Increase your campaigns conversions:
Here are some ideas for increasing the number of conversions in your campaign:
 If you're willing to spend more on your advertising, and you're currently hitting your budget
on a regular basis, you can increase your budget.
 If you're willing to spend more on your advertising, but you're not hitting your budget, you
can increase your CPC bids for the ad groups in the affected campaign. Higher bids help
increase your Ad Rank, which leads to greater visibility for your ad. With more visibility,
you're likely to get more clicks that lead to conversions.
 If you prefer to keep your costs the same, consider moving the conversion tracking code on
your website. For example, Jean runs an insurance website. Her tracking code is on the page
a customer reaches after signing up for an insurance policy. She decides to move the
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tracking code to the page that provides insurance quotes. The conversion data from this
page is still meaningful for her business, and her conversions increase because more
customers reach this page than the "Thank you" page. If you move your conversion tracking
code, be sure to wait two weeks before turning on Conversion Optimizer to allow the system
time to adjust.
 Combine your campaign with another campaign for a related product that has a similar
conversion rate. You can use AdWords Editor to copy and paste ad groups between
campaigns. If you make this kind of major change to your campaigns, be sure to wait two
weeks before turning on Conversion Optimizer to allow the system time to adjust.
 Opt in to the Google Display Network.
 Add more relevant keywords to your ad groups.
 Change your ads or landing page to try to increase your clickthrough rate (CTR) or
conversion rate.
In addition, the following campaign characteristics can help increase conversions:
 The campaign is direct-response oriented. For example, the campaign focuses on generating
sales on an e-commerce website.
 The campaign has a well-defined conversion type, such as a completed purchase or signup.
 The campaign has a relatively stable conversion rate, with no major changes (such as
redefining the conversion event or moving the conversion tracking code) within the last two
weeks.
Tips for conversion optimizer success:
 Start with the recommended CPA bid. Set either a max. CPA or target CPA bid based on
which metric is most familiar to you.
 Raise your max. or target CPA bid to increase traffic and conversions. Lower your max. or
target CPA bid if you want to lower your average CPA. Traffic will likely decrease.
 We recommend not changing the CPA bid more than once every few weeks. This will give
you time to account for any conversion delays and give Conversion Optimizer time to adjust.
 Use Conversion Optimizer with existing campaigns. The longer a campaign has used
conversion tracking and the more conversions it's received in the past 30 days, the more
data that Conversion Optimizer can draw upon to make predictions.
 Keep in mind that changes in ad performance are natural, and you may need to use
Conversion Optimizer for some time to get an accurate understanding of its effects on your
campaign's performance.
 Don't make huge changes to a campaign while running Conversion Optimizer (example:
removing all ad groups and replacing them with new ones). Do make small changes to your
campaign that fit your business needs (examples: adding/removing keywords, changing
creative, changing landing page).
 Don't remove your conversion tracking code from your website or move it to a different
location while running Conversion Optimizer. Doing either of these could result in significant
changes in which clicks lead to reported conversions. As a result, Conversion Optimizer may
need up to several weeks to adjust to these changes.
 Compare your CPA and conversion rate before and after using Conversion Optimizer to
gauge its impact on your campaign.
 Remember, you can always turn off Conversion Optimizer, and your campaign will revert to
the previous CPC bids you were using.
 If you're consistently hitting your budget, increase it to allow more visibility for your ads.
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Changes in traffic:
If you notice a drop in traffic (clicks and conversions) after turning on Conversion Optimizer, there
could be a few things going on:
 Your CPA bid might be too low. If you're using a target CPA bid, compare your bid to the
historical average CPA of your campaign. If your bid is significantly below your historical
average CPA, your target CPA may not be attainable while maintaining reasonable levels of
traffic, and you should consider raising your bid.
 Instead of conversions, you may be looking at clicks or impressions. Because Conversion
Optimizer aims to get you more conversions by avoiding traffic that doesn't result in
conversions, you may see a decrease in impressions or clicks while increasing the number of
conversions.
 Conversion Tracking is disabled. If you remove conversions that you're tracking, then the ads
in campaigns using Conversion Optimizer will stop running. To start showing your ads again,
you'll need to enable Conversion Tracking or switch to manual bidding.
 Your ad group is missing a CPA bid. If your ad group doesn't have a CPA bid, then the ads in
this ad group will stop showing while in Conversion Optimizer. To start showing your ads
again, you'll need to set an ad group CPA bid or switch to manual bidding.
Changes in conversion rate:
It's possible to see a drop in conversion rate when you start using Conversion Optimizer. This change
may occur because you're observing an average of the conversion rate across all clicks. For example,
suppose Conversion Optimizer causes your campaign to have an increase in very cheap clicks with
slightly lower conversion rates. If there were no other changes in your campaign, this change in
conversion rate would appear as a decrease. However, the change in cost could have a very positive
effect on your campaign's ROI.
Example:
Let’s say you used to get one conversion out of every 10 clicks from a specific website, and each click
cost $1. This would mean you have a 10% conversion rate with a total cost of $10 per conversion.
Then, let's say Conversion Optimizer changed your bids so you advertised on a website where you
paid $0.10 per click, but only one in 50 people converted from these. Your conversion rate would
drop to just 2%, but your cost per conversion would also drop to just $5.
Set up Conversion Optimizer

 Conversion Optimizer uses your Conversion Tracking, cross-account Conversion Tracking, or
Google Analytics data to get you more conversions at a lower cost.
 By optimizing your placement in each ad auction, Conversion Optimizer helps you avoid
unprofitable clicks and gets you as many profitable clicks as possible.
 Conversion Optimizer also makes managing your AdWords bidding a lot easier while
maximizing results.
Getting started with Conversion Optimizer

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Before setting up Conversion Optimizer, first make sure you're already importing your conversion
data into your AdWords account either by enabling Conversion Tracking or cross-account conversion
tracking (MCC accounts), or by importing your goals and transactions data from Google Analytics.
Your campaign should usually receive at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days, and have been
receiving conversions at a similar rate for at least a few days. For best results, we recommend you
run Conversion Tracking for at least two weeks before trying Conversion Optimizer -- longer if you
don't have a high volume of conversions. In some cases, you may be able to use Conversion
Optimizer without campaign history if you already have conversion data elsewhere in your account.
How to enable Conversion Optimizer if using manual bidding:

2. Select the Campaigns tab.
3. Select the campaign name.
4. Select the Settings tab.
5. Next to "Bid strategy," click Edit.
6. Click the Focus on Conversions (Conversion Optimizer) radio button.

7. Under Advanced Options, select either Max. CPA or Target CPA, and select either Start
with recommended bid or select and set a custom bid. For campaigns that promote
mobile app downloads, you can only set a target CPA.
8. Click Save to finish.
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Google Analytics and AdWords

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that keeps track of all the traffic that comes to a website. You can
use it with AdWords to see how much of your website traffic or sales is coming from your ads. Learn
more about using Google Analytics and AdWords together.
Link Google Analytics and Ad Words:

Linking a Google Analytics property to your AdWords account can help you analyse customer activity
on your website. This information can shed light on how much of your website traffic or sales comes
from AdWords, and help you improve your ads and website.
Why link AdWords to Google Analytics:
After linking Google Analytics and AdWords, you can do the following:
 Import Google Analytics goals and transactions into AdWords as conversions

 View Google Analytics site engagement data in AdWords
 Create remarketing lists in Analytics to use in AdWords for targeting specific audiences
 Automatically view your AdWords click and cost data alongside your Analytics site
engagement data
Before you start, make sure that you're using a Google Account that has Edit permission for the
Analytics property and Administrative access for the AdWords account(s).
Note: These permissions are only required for the linking process itself. After you've created the link,
the permissions can be modified or removed entirely.
Link AdWords and Google Analytics:
The linking wizard makes it easy to link your AdWords account(s) to multiple views of your Analytics
property. If you have multiple Analytics properties and want to link each of them to your AdWords
account(s), just complete the linking wizard for each property.

2. Click the Tools tab, then select Google Analytics. Analytics will open in a new window.
You can also start this process from within your Analytics account by starting at step 3
below.
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1. Click the Admin tab at the top of the page.

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3. In the "Account" column, select the Analytics account that contains the property you want
to link with one or more of your AdWords accounts.
4. In the “Property” column, select the Analytics property you want to link, and click AdWords
Linking.
5. Select the checkbox next to any AdWords accounts you want to link with your Analytics
property. If you have a My Client Center (MCC) account, expand the MCC account by clicking
the arrow next to it, and then select the checkbox next to each of the managed AdWords
accounts you want to link.
6. Click the Continue button.
7. In the “Link configuration” section, enter a title to identify your group of linked AdWords
accounts.
Note: Most users will only need one link group. We recommend creating multiple link
groups only if you have multiple AdWords accounts and want data to flow in different ways
between these accounts and your Analytics property. For example, you should create
multiple link groups if you need to:
 Link different AdWords accounts to different views of the same Analytics property
 Enable auto-tagging for only some of your AdWords accounts
8. Select the Analytics views in which you want the AdWords data to be available.
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1. If you've already enabled auto-tagging in your AdWords account, skip to the next step.
The account linking process will enable auto-tagging for all of your linked AdWords accounts.
Click Advanced settings only if you need to manually tag your AdWords links.
2. Click the Link accounts button.
Congratulations! Your accounts are now linked. If you opted to keep auto-tagging turned on
(recommended), Analytics will start automatically associating your AdWords data with customer
clicks.
Note:
When you link an AdWords account to an Analytics view, anyone with access to that view will be
able to see your imported AdWords data. Likewise, if you choose to import Analytics data (such as
goals and transactions, metrics, or remarketing lists) into your AdWords account, anyone with access
to that AdWords account will be able to see your imported Analytics data.
Payment methods and settings

There are two main things to consider when setting up your billing information: when you pay and
what you pay with. Learn about the options available in AdWords.
Understanding automatic and manual payment settings

Showing information for the following country:
With AdWords, you're automatically charged after your ads show (automatic payments), or in some
countries, you can make payments before your ads show (manual payments).
Using Automatic payments:
Automatic payments are not available to accounts in China or Russia. If you don't see this option in
your account, please select manual payments instead.
An automatic payment is a payment setting in AdWords. Using this setting, you first accrue
advertising costs, and then have those costs automatically charged to your primary payment
method.
To begin, you provide your billing information once, and payments are automatically processed so
you don't have to worry that your ads will stop running if you forget to make a payment.
When you're charged
On automatic payments, we charge you for your advertising costs 30 days after your last automatic
charge, or whenever your account reaches a predetermined amount known as your billing threshold
-- whichever comes first.
How the billing threshold works:

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Your billing threshold is initially set at a certain amount. Each time your account hits its threshold
before the 30-day billing cycle has ended, your threshold increases, up to the highest threshold.
Thresholds vary per account, country, and currency, so be sure to check in your account to see what
your current threshold is. Note that the amount billed may be slightly over the threshold if your
account accrues costs quickly.
Find your billing threshold:
To find out what your billing threshold is, follow these steps:

2. Click the gear icon and choose Billing.
3. Click Billing settings.
4. Check your threshold in the How you pay section. Your current threshold is shown in the
phrase "after $[your threshold amount] is accrued or every 30 days, whichever comes first."
You won't be emailed or notified when your billing threshold increases, so check this spot to know
your current threshold.
If you'd like to be charged less frequently or in larger increments, see how to change how often
you're charged.
Setup
Your payment options depend on the country of your billing address and your selected currency.
Once you've created an AdWords account, follow the steps below to enter your billing information.
1. Sign in to your AdWords account.

2. Select the gear icon and choose Billing, then click Billing preferences.
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3. Choose the country or territory of your business address. Click Continue.
4. Enter your business address. Click Continue.

5. Make your billing choices and enter your billing information. Click Continue.
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6. Review and accept the AdWords Terms and Conditions.

7. Click Submit and Activate.
Once your account is activated and your billing information has been processed, any new ads and
campaigns you create can begin running on Google. If you don't want them to run immediately, be
sure to pause your campaigns.
Tips:
 You can still make a manual payment even if you're using the automatic payment setting.
Just sign into your account, click gear icon and choose Billing, and then click the Make a
payment button. The money will be used for future clicks, and it will reduce your next
automatic charge. However, keep in mind that you'll still be automatically charged 30 days
after your last automatic charge, no matter what your account balance is.
 If you'd like to reduce the costs charged to your primary payment method, make a manual
payment with another payment method.
 To avoid having your ads stop because of a declined payment, we highly recommend setting
up a backup payment method. If your primary payment method doesn't work for some
reason, we'll charge your backup credit card to ensure your ads keep running.
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Using Manual Payments:

The manual payment setting isn’t available for new accounts in the countries listed. If you can't see
this option when signing up, please choose automatic payments to finish creating your account.
A manual payment is a payment setting in AdWords that allows you to make payments before your
ads run. Here's how it works:
1. Make a payment to AdWords.

2. Your ads run almost immediately after we receive your payment.
3. You accrue costs, which are deducted from your payment.
As long as you've got money in your account to pay for your ads, your ads will run. Just don't forget
to replenish your account! To help, we'll send you an email when the money in your account gets
low (about a week's worth of your budget), and again when it's gone.
How to make a payment
You can make a manual payment at any time -- even if you're using the automatic payment setting
that lets you pay after your ads run and you accrue costs. Just sign in to your AdWords account, click
the gear icon and choose Billing, and then click the Make a payment button.
Social
Media
Marketing
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What is social media?
"Social media" is a way for people to communicate and interact online. While it has been around
since the dawn of the World Wide Web, in the last 10 years or so we've seen a surge in both the
number and popularity of social media sites. It's called social media because users engage with (and
around) it in a social context, which can include conversations, commentary, and other user-
generated annotations and engagement interactions.
Publishing content has become exponentially simpler over the last several years, which has helped
skyrocket the use of social media. Non-technical web users are now able to easily create content on
a rapidly growing number of platforms, including those that are owned (hosted communities, blogs,
etc.), rented (social networks or third-party communities), and occupied (commenting, contributing,
etc.). Today's web has shifted from a "one-to-many" to a "many-to-many" method of engagement,
and we're loving it.
For businesses, the shift in web consumerism and accompanying rise in social media brings both
opportunity and responsibility. The sheer amount of data that customers make available through
social media alone has web marketers jumping for joy. The real magic, however, lies in the
opportunity to grow lasting and scalable relationships with your organization's customer base
through social media. This is also where your online responsibility to your customers begins to take
shape. Just as your customers' behavior has shifted, so have their expectations for yours. Whether
your business is listening and engaging or not, customers are having conversations relevant to your
operations. It's better to be part of the conversation, right? We sure think so!
Why does my company need social media?

Whether you are running a small, local operation, or heading a global, enterprise-level effort, the
statistics above make it clear: Your customers are online. They are interacting in social channels with
their friends, colleagues, and other brands in search of information, recommendations, and
entertainment. If your company is not around to answer, a competitor will be. In doing so, your
competitor will quite likely take away the customer at hand, along with anyone else listening.
There are tons of opportunities to add value—even to delight!—and making that connection can
help build a person's relationship with a company, brand, or representative. Those relationships
create the foundation for what can eventually become one of your greatest marketing assets:
customer advocacy.
Advocacy is the nirvana of social media, and it is through advocacy that your efforts start to truly
scale and grow. It shows that your brand is doing such an amazing job that your customers shout
about your brand from rooftops, sharing their opinions and experiences with their networks. That
sharing is the best marketing a brand can ask for.
Identifying potential advocates is a good first step. You can use social tools (many of which are
outlined in the rest of this guide), site data, customer data, and even your own observations to help
you pick out which customers are likely to go to bat for your brand. You'll want to figure out what is
most important to those potential advocates. What are they looking for?
Are they fishing for recognition? Are they excited by exclusive access to news and/or content? Figure
out what type of advocates your brand attracts and find ways to recognize them for their advocacy.
It is important to note, though, that most of your greatest community relationships will be built
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organically. While your research and brand knowledge encourages people and helps you put the
right foot forward, relationships take time.
The transition from a passive web to an interactive web has brought with it many changes affecting
how individuals connect with one another and also how businesses operate. At this stage in the
game, it's fair to say that a web presence is critical to the success of a business. You can't get ahead
if you're ignoring your customer's online conversations or opting to look the Because so much of the
customer experience now lives on the web, social media enables brands to take part in a customer's
online experience outside of the typical channels. other way. Use this opportunity to get closer to
your audience than ever before—reach more people in a genuine and authentic manner, drive more
qualified site traffic, increase the authority of your brand, engage the people who influence your
customers' behavior, and gain the data necessary for insights-based business decisions.
Maybe a better question is why wouldn't your company use social media?
How can social be a springboard for success in other marketing channels?
Keep in mind that neither your customers' experience nor your brand starts with Twitter, Facebook,
or your blog. Social media should take your existing brand and solidify it, galvanize it, and bolster it.
Your efforts in social media should be an extension of everything else you do in all departments of
your company. Capturing your company's voice and sharing it with the world through social media
will open up unique opportunities in all other channels of inbound marketing, including SEO,
branding, public relations, sales, and more.
Relationships:
To get the most out of social media, make the relationships you build with it your end goal. That
might sound a bit utopian for anyone who is grounded in more traditional and tangible business
measurement and metrics, but take a step back from the bottom-line, ROI-seeking aspect to look at
the big picture for a minute. The relationships built with customers are the foundations upon which
other aspects of your business can and will flourish.
Relationships flourish when you cultivate them, and no other area offers you the opportunity to do
this as well as social media. Social channels have broken down the walls between individuals at an
unprecedented rate. In 2011, Facebook released data showing that its users were, on average, 3.74
degrees of separation away from one another, making them nearly as connected to each other as
Kevin Bacon is to the rest of Hollywood. In the years since that study, the network has only
continued to grow. That's pretty amazing, and social media can take credit for making it happen.
Some of the most successful SEOs and public relations professionals earn their notoriety, at least in
part, from the relationships they are able to build. They're also good at what they do, of course, but
great relationships bolster their already solid effort. The relationships you build with your customers
lead to advocacy and loyalty, traits that can support your brand during both the good and the bad
times, representing an investment that will remain strong on nearly any platform an under nearly
any circumstances.
Feedback:
Information can be shared through social media at an amazingly fast pace, and users are increasingly
turning to social channels to share information in real-time. This information often takes the form of
opinions, so if you're listening for the right cues from your audience, social media can become an
invaluable source of insights and feedback. Incorporating social listening into product development
work can act as an early warning system, save on customer service costs, provide valuable
development feedback, and even help identify ideal beta testers without much expense.
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Integration:
Social media is not something you can simply "tack on" to the rest of your marketing, branding, PR,
and advertising efforts; it needs to be a fully integrated part of the mix. In doing so, you can create a
cohesive and scalable experience for your customers. Think of it as a means to an end, and not an
end in itself. Also, it's not as hard as it sounds. Be sure to integrate social media into your marketing
efforts as early as possible to help amplify and solidify your work rather than waiting until the end of
a planning cycle to explore social options. If a social presence is clear from the start, your branding
will benefit from additional customer touch points, PR will see a lift in impressions and reach, and
customer service can proactively listen and activate where necessary.
As you can see, a social presence can have far-reaching impact for your organization when it is
executed in an authentic and thoughtful manner. By making social engagement a core part of your
operations rather than an afterthought, you have a better shot at fully leveraging its power.
The Value of Social Media
Building and engaging a community
Perhaps the greatest value of social media marketing is your ability to foster and engage with a
community of other people. That engagement is at the heart of social media, and without it, you're
left with a megaphone and no one to hear you. You have the opportunity to interact with customers
from all over the world—including those who are right down the street—on a huge scale. If a current
or prospective customer has something to say to you or about you, you now have the ability to
respond immediately.
In addition to responsive communication, brands and businesses can begin to build relationships
with their customers beyond those that happen during normal transactions. These relationships are
what keep customers coming back, increasing both loyalty and retention. If those customers become
advocates and increase your word-of-mouth presence, you'll start seeing amazing returns.
By providing a great place of engagement for your community and helping build valuable, authentic
resources for your brand's niche, you're also building up authority for your brand within your
industry. You'll find your customers increasingly trusting what you say and coming to you for
resources that can help them solve their own challenges. Heck, you may even find yourself lending a
hand to a competitor in the space. All brands start in a similar unknown place, and the more you
give, the more authority you'll get back. A great example is REI, which not only sells outdoor gear,
but is also a known resource for tips on hiking, snowshoeing, zombie survival, and a whole host of
other activities centered around the outdoors.
Moving from "like" to "love" to "defend"

The feelings of any community member toward your brand can range from resentment to adoration
and beyond. We'll address the negative feelings later on; the people we want to concentrate on now
are those we hope to move along a spectrum from simply "liking" you all the way to being willing to
defend you and your brand.
The first step is getting people to simply like you, whether on Facebook, by word of mouth, or
however. The people who like you are consistently having their expectations met. This typically feels
transactional with a low level of engagement, though there's certainly nothing wrong with that.
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Like any relationship, forming bonds that take you to the next level highly depends on the needs of
both your brand and the individuals with whom you're interacting. You want to form these bonds on
positive experiences you have together that benefit both of you. (This is not to say that bonds can't
be formed through adversity, but having say a positive Twitter exchange around helping someone is
better than one around how your product is malfunctioning.) Even better if these experiences bring
delight and build your unique brand voice. For example, when Kotex started their Pinterest account,
they selected 50 female users and sent them unique packages based on their Pinterest boards. Not
only were these women surprised and happy, but all shared about what Kotex did on their social
networks, creating a cascade of warm feelings.
There is another level where this relationship grows even deeper. When a customer becomes willing
to defend your brand, you know you've really outdone yourself. This final "willingness to defend"
stage is brand and social nirvana, as community members are not only engaging frequently and
providing recommendations, but also standing up to advocate your work and defend you from brand
detractors.
You can never expect your community to handle 100% of the customer service issues or questions
that arise. They aren't fully equipped, and it's not their job. But you can expect, after your initial
investment and cultivation, that some community members will begin to step up and help out when
they can and where appropriate. (This is a good time to think about about how to recognize and
even reward your most active participants.) When that happens, you begin to see how your efforts
will start to scale as you continue to boost your community engagement efforts. It frees you up to
work on other engagements, and as you might imagine, an advocate standing up for a brand is far
more powerful than a brand standing up for itself. There's a level of authenticity built into that sort
of peer-to-peer interaction that can't be found in brand-to-customer interactions.
It's not just about marketing:
The community engagement that social media affords is beneficial to nearly every part of your
organization, from the product team to HR and more. As an added bonus, getting more colleagues
involved will lighten your load. To get you started, here are a few areas that see the most obvious
value.
Content creation:
By using your search traffic data, on-site engagements, and social listening efforts, your social media
presence can help you determine what people are looking for and create content that fulfils their
needs. (Not to mention giving you a wonderful way to share that content once it's available.) Topics
for content will likely fall in one of three buckets:
 Learn and improve:

This type of content is designed to optimize your customers' tasks or workflow. You are
attempting to make their lives better by more fully utilizing your product (feature education,
etc.), or even by offering assistance. The main goals of this content type are to build
authority, drive connections, and increase engagement.
 Explore and discover:

Customers wanting to get creative and find new ways to use your product are looking for
this type of content. For this group, building relationships is going to be tantamount; these
relationships will breed ideation and community.
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 Question and answer:

This type of content serves to meet customer support needs. Something has gone wrong,
and customers seek a solution. This can range from a detailed forum thread on resolving a
technical issue to a simple question and answer on how to make a product return. Your main
goal is to drive answers.
Also, don't overlook the content that can be generated within your own community. User-generated
content can be amazing —a gift, even! Your users can help write what your audience finds
interesting, relevant, and useful. The possibilities are endless.
Using analytics tools like SimplyMeasured, True Social Metrics, as well as tools from the networks
themselves, you can measure the conversations you’re having on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and
even YouTube for content creation ideas. The big takeaway: Members of your community are openly
talking about what they want. In order to reap the benefits of that conversation, all you need to do is
listening. It's remarkably easy to derive meaningful insights when you're looking in the right places.
Customer service:
It's a pretty natural human reaction to complain when something doesn't go our way. In the past, we
might simply have vented our frustration to a couple of friends. Now, we turn to Twitter and
Facebook. A much larger audience is listening there —one that is not limited by geography and has
the ability to easily amplifies any complaints. As a company, when individuals use their social
channels as a means of complaining about you, it can be frightening at first. It can feel like you're
being attacked and like you have no control. But these truly are opportunities to jump in and help
rectify the situation, even improving the customer's experience with your brand.
Bottom line: We're rising with the tide of our customers' expectations.
Not all customers will address you directly, however, so it helps to be listening. Always make sure it's
clear and easy for people to easily contact you. It may help prevent a Twitter rant or an upset
Facebook update.
Some customers out there are ready to engage with questions, concerns, and even complaints, and
it's your job to be there. But you don't have to do it alone. Remember that as you move your
community members into more meaningful relationships with your brand, they'll stand up to defend
you. You have to put in the muscle up front, but after a while, you'll start seeing evidence of your
community stepping in to help each other on your behalf.
With some training and an emphasis on consistent voice, social participation can be picked up by
other customer service oriented departments inside the company. When social engagement is not
the sole responsibility of a social media marketing professional, but rather a distributed effort across
functional areas of the company, you'll be able to better serve your customers while running an
efficient and informed business.
Product development:
At no other time in history have businesses had more access to customers at scale than they do now,
and product development stands to benefit from this perhaps more than any other group. Input
from social media, though, can be both a blessing and a curse, as people don't always know precisely
what they think or want. There's a quote widely attributed to Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor
Company that goes, "If I had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said faster
horses."
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It's easy to make the mistake of treating all customer input as gospel. Feedback is incredibly
important, but that being said, you should take that feedback in the context of everything else you
know about your product and your brand. A few complaints are not necessarily representative of
your entire user base, so the feedback you're seeing may not be completely representative of the
truth. There are several tactics you can employ to make sure you're gleaning all the right benefits of
this customer feedback without assigning artificial weight.
Create beta/tester communities: This can be done in a couple of ways. You can curate a list of
community members who would be most helpful—power users from across the social web,
enthusiast bloggers, and so on—into a group connected by email, a Facebook group, or other social
mechanism. You can also create special restricted areas of your forum-based communities where
these power users can converse, engage, and network while participating in conversations you
generate. This special access can serve as a reward for those community members, and it can lead to
incredibly useful insights for you and your brand.
Listen for your competition: As you listen for product feedback, you'll want to analyze sentiment,
look out for specific problems, and see what the greater community says about your competitors.
Conversations happening around your competition's products/offerings can provide endless
amounts of insight for your own efforts.
Measurement: Just as you can glean insights about your products by sifting through your web
analytics, you can gain similar clues by watching and measuring the performance of your social
channels. Do posts about one product frequently outperform similar posts about another? Your
customers might be telling you something about which they like better.
Human resources:
Social media can play a wonderful role in HR, as well: encouraging employee engagement, finding
and connecting with new recruits, and even helping with retention efforts. A word about
governance: Depending on the culture at your organization, your HR department might need to play
a part in any implementation of social media, and regardless of the culture, getting their buy-in is
always a good idea. Working with your HR professionals during the development of your social
media policies and governance can help ensure your organization is protected from risk while
empowering its employees. Definitely get in touch with them before pulling other employees into
your efforts; this is one area where you'd rather ask permission than forgiveness.
Beyond those governance considerations, though, social media can be a remarkable tool for HR
professionals. Some of the areas you may be able to grow your efforts into HR include:
1. Recruiting
Social channels are the perfect place to reach new applicants. People search for job openings
online, and chances are that some of them have already "liked" you, so why not reach them
where they're already spending their time? Given its interest, your community will also be more
apt to share these openings with its networks.
2. Internal social networking

There are some social networks that are designed to be used entirely inside an organization.
Some people like Yammer. Some prefer Chatter. Heck, some even use Basecamp or Jive.
Whatever flavour you pick, social networking tools used internally can be incredible for
knowledge sharing, building a sense of camaraderie, and increasing cross-functional
collaboration. Internal social networks can also be valuable for governance and policy awareness
efforts.
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3. Career advancement:
Being active and fully aware of the "hows and whats" of social media is quickly becoming a
mandatory skill in today's workforce. This skill cannot be overlooked, especially for HR
professionals. Social media can also be used to network online and learn about trending
topics in a specific field, discovering new areas of opportunity for the business that might
include niche communities for related professions.
Social media is not something that should be solely utilized by any one team within a company.
Ideally, the entire organization is involved in some facet of the company's social media and has a
deep understanding of their customers through participation. Cross-functionally distributing the
social media effort also helps ensure the right people take the helm at the right time.
At the same time, it's important to maintain consistent voice and branding for every aspect of your
company's social efforts, so you'll want to at least create a set of basic guidelines for everyone
involved.
How to get social media buy-in:
As you make your case for your brand's social media endeavors, you'll likely need to show value to
your leadership or clients. The good news is that with a little analysis, the data is on your side. Let's
start by building a business case that's right for you.
You know your organization better than just about anyone, so trust your gut. If you're worried about
pushback, you can run some small-scale tests to see how it goes and build a case for your effort. In
safe pockets—places where you can play around and create the foundation for your business case
without much risk—build out a trial or two that touch on some of the most pressing issues your
organization faces, and see if you can't prove the impact of social media in those areas. You might
even look to your competitors for some good examples. Once these tests have yielded results,
present your new data to whoever needs to give the social sign-off. This strategy of starting small
helps buy you the permission and trust you'll need to work towards some of the more difficult
results.
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Social Media Metrics and ROI

Part of the beauty of online marketing is that you can measure nearly everything you do. Before you
dive in, however, keep in mind that measurement is only effective if you know what to measure and
why. Collecting data from which no meaningful insights can be derived can lead to time wasted in
what's not-so-lovingly referred to as "analysis paralysis."
Ultimately, we're working towards measuring any return on your investment (ROI). But remember,
in order to measure ROI you need to have an I. Without a serious investment of resources, you may
never find the return you're looking for. Measuring that ROI can look very different for different
campaigns, and opening a metrics dashboard the day after you launch a social presence won't
provide any useful insight.
For some, goals are as simple as driving traffic and measuring conversions. For many, however,
things are far more complex. Your ROI may come in the form of cost savings from handling customer
service issues on Twitter instead of over the phone. Perhaps you can track increased foot traffic from
a Foursquare promotion or Yelp campaign.
One thing is certain: Measurement of useful data leads to action and (perhaps more importantly)
budget. Solid data is what makes your business case compelling; without it, you're basing decisions
and pitches on assumptions and instinct. Those can be helpful, but by measuring first, you can take
your story to the next level.
How, you might ask, do you strike a balance? The key is finding the right things to measure and
ultimately report for your organization. When trying to figure out what those are, remember that
you will have two kinds of data.
Quantitative:
Quantitative data is generally numeric in nature and can be used in true scientific analysis, with
sample sizes of statistical significance and results that are repeatable.
Followers/fans: This is one of the most common metrics we see brands track. Be sure you're not
placing too much weight on this one. It may be gratifying to see growth, but if it's not tied to
something more meaningful, it's just a number.
Engagement: An incredibly meaningful metric —perhaps one of the most important in measuring
your own success and efforts—engagement can actually measure a host of different items
depending on the channel. All of these different metrics combine to give you a sense for how well
your audience is responding to your content. For a blog post, this could be the number of shares and
comments per post. On Twitter, this could be the number of mentions, retweets, favorites, and
responses. Engagement tells you how well you're doing in having conversations with your
community and whether the content you create piques their interest.
Timing: Take a look at the timing of your community's activity as well as your own. You want to
ensure you're active when they are. This is often overlooked, as many accounts are only managed
during business hours, but that isn't always when your customers are listening.
You can gain a general sense for when your target audience is online just by looking at the
timestamps on their comments (and other activity), but you’ll get a much better idea if you use a
tool that can analyze an entire audience.
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Click-through rate (CTR): Click through rate is a familiar metric for most Internet marketers, and it
can be valuable in social as well— especially if one of your goals happens to be driving traffic back to
your website. Think of it as a sort of social conversion that you can work to optimize.
Qualitative:
Qualitative data is based on observations, and it often takes the form of hypotheses that stem from
smaller sample sizes than you'd normally need for a true scientific study. These hypotheses can then
be tested using quantitative data.
Influence: This one's a bit controversial. Everyone wants to find their community's influencers, but
there is currently no universal standard for measuring influence or finding those people. There are
several tools available that offer "influence scores." (Klout and our own Social Authority are popular
ones.) Though if you choose to use such a tool, you should have a good sense for how it determines
the score; you'll want to ensure it aligns with what you are actually trying to measure. Beyond tools,
also consider looking at Twitter and Google rankings for influencers within a certain topic. If you
have access to a relevant forum and its data (perhaps your own), look for influencers there too. This
can help you target the individuals that will have the audience you're looking to reach. Our own
Twitter tool, Followerwonk, can be a great resource for this type of research as well.
Sentiment: Sentiment analysis attempts to measure the tone and tenor of a conversation around a
stated topic or item. In social media, this is largely used to tell if people love, can’t stand, or is
neutral about your brand or campaigns. Most sentiment measurement tools are automated these
days, and if you choose to go this route, you'll want to make sure you understand the methodology
behind the tool—particularly the margin of error—to help you understand the context of your
reports. There are also manual sentiment analysis tools out there to use. However, there are many
drawbacks to these including labor costs and your time. Not to mention that a really great manual
solution may be much more expensive than an automated one.
Conversation drivers: With the right tools, we can look at nearly any platform (or all of them for
that matter) and see what people are talking about. When it comes to your brand, you'll want to
know the topics and context of conversations about you, your competition, and your niche. This
incredibly useful knowledge can tell you, for example, who your customers see as your closest
competition, what they're sharing in relation to your product, their concerns, etc. This is one of the
most important and insightful qualitative measurements you can use.
Pro Tip: With any data you're collecting, whether it is quantitative or qualitative, the most
important things to ask yourself are "What can I do with this?" and "What are my insights?" If you
can't do anything with your data and you're not gleaning actionable business takeaways from it,
then you should question why you're measuring it in the first place.
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Facebook:
When Facebook started in 2004, it was a bare-bones social network focused on connecting college
students. Nine years and more than 1 billion active users later, Facebook has become the most
widely-used social network to date and has shaped online interaction as we know it. From
connecting distant friends and family members, to bridging the gap between brands and their
communities, Facebook has taken the way we interact online to a whole new level.
How are people using Facebook?

Since its inception, Facebook has become an integral component of people's online social presence.
For many, Facebook is the only online social network in which they participate, though the level of
engagement varies across the user spectrum. From those that check the network periodically
throughout the week to those who are almost compulsively active, the core driving force to
participation is connection: connecting with colleagues, friends old and new, alumni networks, and
for an increasing percentage of users, even professional connections.
The network itself has transformed into one with highly customizable privacy and visibility settings.
Users can dial down their visibility to the point where they are nearly invisible on the platform. They
can choose which posts or updates are visible and to whom. Conversely, those users who have
chosen a more all-in approach can leave everything completely public, from the images they're
tagged in to their active stream on Spotify.
Features go beyond the individual user's page to brand pages, events, groups, and now a pseudo-
standalone messenger service.
1. Groups: Groups are user-created and have varying levels of privacy and security, much like
individual profiles. Users can organize groups around any topic or event they like. From
professionally relevant groups to those organized around special interests, such as nutrition,
the variety is limited only by interest of the users. These groups have undoubtedly been a
welcome and sticky addition to the platform over time.
2. Events: Events allow users to organize around a point in time. Security here is fairly
customizable, allowing for public, private, and somewhere-in-between events. A key feature
here is the baked-in ability to export your Facebook events to other calendars, no doubt
increasing usage and reliance on this feature that blends users' personal and professional
lives.
Business pages: Business pages have been an evolutionary product for Facebook. Over the years,
they have taken several different shapes, though they are fairly stable today. Like other types of
pages, the feature set is ever-evolving as they add more to meet the needs of the marketers behind
the brand's efforts. Facebook has recently added more features in terms of analytics, reporting,
security, and access, as well as increased the richness available to those wishing to dive into
Facebook advertising.
Facebook Messenger: Facebook Messenger is a new way to combine email, instant messenger,
and Facebook messages. As new stand-alone group message services popped up throughout 2010
and 2011, Facebook clearly saw an opportunity and acquired one of the more popular group-
messaging apps known as Beluga. They have since re-branded this app as Facebook Messenger. On
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iOS, Blackberry, and Android devices, this is a stand-alone app, but it also integrates across the
Facebook app and web experiences.
As users increasingly rely on social platforms, these social networks will grow and respond as
Facebook has. While there's still a great deal of opportunity in this space, Facebook offers users the
most choice for the many facets of their lives while enabling flexibility for privacy and visibility. As
users continue to adopt new behaviours and ultimately expectations, Facebook will need to
continue to adapt to stay at the top of the social pile, so expect continued change and evolution.
This change is necessary and beneficial, but can be frustrating from a marketing perspective.
Strategies and tactics for success:
As more and more people and brands jump onto Facebook, the noise level for individual users
increases. While Facebook's News Feed algorithm helps the noise level by showing users what it
deems the most relevant content, in order to really stand out from the crowd, brands must be
remarkable, interesting, and add value.
In order to ensure your content is seen, you'll need to optimize and take Facebook-specific
functionality into account.
Content: Everything you post on Facebook is content. As we now know from the News Feed
algorithm, how users interact with that content is important. Consider every piece of content you
post an opportunity for increased and specific engagement, and don't be afraid to have a little fun.
Take a look at these examples from Delta and GE. While completely on-brand, you can see they're a
bit unexpected and show they're not afraid to show their human side. Also, images are incredibly
effective on Facebook—posts with photos get, on average, 39% more engagement.
Post timing: Also related to the ingredients of your content is when and how you post it. Be sure
you're tracking what time of day your fans are most active. Focusing your engagements during these
times will help you grow your community. Also be sure to pay attention to things like sentence
structure, phrasing, and types of posts that are particularly engaging to your audience. Many
Facebook users check the site on their lunch breaks and after dinner, and while the latter is outside
of normal business hours, it's worth testing to see if that's a time when your audience is looking for
content.
Moderation: Brands have increasing levels of responsibility for user-generated content posted on
their walls or in comments. You'll want to proactively think through your stance on inappropriate
content on your Facebook page, and your best practice would be to make this stance publicly
available. This lets your community know what you will and will not allow, lessens the chance of a
surprise, and builds a sense of safety and sets expectations.
Facebook is an open and public space, so you can't control everything people say. Instances in which
it is appropriate to remove user content would include: advertorial content, harassment and abuse,
derogatory or offensive language, threatening posts, and posts that contain sensitive information
(credit card numbers, addresses, etc.). Instances in which you should address the comments instead
of removing them include: customer complaints, negative commentary, and critical statements. You
may not like what people always have to say, but in social, you always have to listen.
Engagement: Because we are building something rooted in relationships, you can take full
advantage by joining in the conversation with your customers. They want to interact with your
brand, and are going out of their way to do so. Honour that. The type of conversation will dictate the
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cadence and rhythm of your response. This is largely dependent on your product as well; for
example, an airline's response rates to customer service issues ought to be rather quick, as their
customers' needs are likely far more time sensitive than those in another industry. Only you can
determine what is right for your organization and product, but at least in the initial stages of building
a community, it's better to err on the side of faster responses.
Community: Make your audience's experience on Facebook about their experience and their
connections rather than your CTR and conversion rates. Concentrate on them, and you'll succeed.
Your audience will turn into a community that thrives, grows, and supports one another. By enabling
engagement within the audience, you can help increase the level of stickiness and affinity they will
have to the brand, moving toward customer advocacy.
User flow: While the page environment Facebook gives brands is mostly set, you want to make sure
you're directing your users where you want them to go. If I am a user looking for support or help,
will I know where to go? Just as you do when designing landing pages for your website, consider the
goals of your Facebook page. What do you want users to do when they land on your page? What
information do they need to be able to access easily? Make sure these elements are front and
centre. You can easily change the order of the apps and even optimize the icons used to display
those apps for visibility. JetBlue is a great example of a clear and obvious user flow.
Credibility: A huge part of your brand is built on trust, and the foundation of that trust is your
credibility. Grammar and spelling are universally important, and all efforts for their correct uses
should be made. Fact-check sources and news before sharing them on your networks. Ensure the
safety of your users by not sharing links to malicious sites. Essentially, make sure you don't give your
community a reason to believe you are anything other than what you are: awesome.
Etiquette tips and guidelines:

Like offline social interactions, Facebook has its own set of unwritten do's and don'ts for users to
follow. Facebook is, first and foremost, a social network built to help users stay connected with one
another. It has also evolved into a platform for businesses to engage with their customers. This
hierarchy is important to keep in mind, and means that you must know the ropes before diving in.
Here are a few tips to get you started with proper Facebook etiquette:
Don't spam: This is a big no through all of marketing. Always be tactful, classy, and do not spam.
This includes sending mass-event invites and messages and invitations to like your brand pages from
your personal account. It's not impossible to spam as a business page either, but Facebook's
functionality prevents most of it.
Respond: Response times are going to vary based on the issue and the product in question, but in
social media timeliness is critical. Users expect things to happen much faster on social channels than
on more traditional web channels like email. In most cases, same-day responses are required. Don't
ever let your community feel like they've been forgotten.
Say no to clustered updates: With the notable exception of image albums, avoid making multiple
updates within a short time span. Beyond News Feed algorithmic concerns, it's just annoying to your
followers. Your signalto- noise ratio falls, and you may lose the long-term attention of your audience.
@Name: If you want to call out another public Facebook page or user, you can directly link to their
Facebook page, which also notifies them that you're talking about them, by putting an @ and then
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typing their name. (Facebook will help your selection with a drop-down.) This also makes it clearer
to whom you're addressing. Note that private users can't be called out in this way unless you're
replying to a comment they left on your page.
Highlight important posts: If your brand has any very important updates; e.g. acquisitions, sales,
or feature in news articles; you can highlight them in your page's timeline. This expands the post to
both columns, and may get these important updates further into people's News Feeds.
Messages: People can send your page private messages. You'll find the most of these messages will
be customer service-related, so make sure to check them. The messages section functions like an
email inbox.
Notifications: The notifications box will show you the most recent likes, comments, wall posts, etc.,
on your brand's page. Depending on the volume of incoming activity, this administrative section can
be useful when tracking activity by your community. Due to Facebook's focus on recent activity,
you'll probably only receive comments and likes on recent posts, but the notifications can help track
activity on older posts.
Page favourites: You can mark other brand pages as favourites on your business' page. This is a
helpful way to promote partners, good causes, or others you're connecting your business with.
Posting: While many social media tools allow you to post from them to Facebook, you'll have the
best results by posting directly to Facebook from Facebook itself. Facebook's algorithm biases
toward post that originate from its own interface. Responses and comment moderation, however,
can be done via social management software without issue.
Scheduling: Thankfully, Facebook does allow scheduling of posts directly in their interface. If you
are sharing linked content, this content must already be live on the web, which can be a pickle for
those scheduling unpublished blog posts or other content. Scheduled posts will appear only to the
moderators in the "Activity Log." Keep in mind, though, that engagement is a primary goal, and you'll
want to be around for the responses to your scheduled posts.
Recommended tools:
Facebook for Business:
A helpful portal for business page owners offering support for page creation, ad campaign
management, and other platform resources.
Facebook Page Insights: (available in the admin panel of any business page):
This tool offers up increasing amounts of data specific to your brand page. While this doesn't give
you any type of competitive insight, this panel tells you about who your fans are, where they're
located, and how much they're engaging with your page and individual posts. Much of this
information can be downloaded into an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.
Simply Measured, Unmetric, Unified, Crowd booster, and True Social Metrics:
Are incredible resources for Facebook measurement and deep analytics for your brand pages, as
well as for competitive analysis and benchmarking across industries.
Facebook Brand: Like any good organization, Facebook has implemented guidelines for using its
own brand materials. This page gives you official logos, images, and all you need to know about how
to mention Facebook without furrowing Mark Zuckerberg's brow.
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Facebook Ads:
If your brand has the resources, you can give your content a boost by buying ads on Facebook.
These ads can be fine-tuned to the exact social graph of your target customers.
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Twitter
Founded in 2006, Twitter's 140-character bite-size updates have transformed the world's access to
real-time information. Its simple interface allows for sharing anything from breaking news to sports,
to great content, to worldwide politics. In a time when we're oversaturated with media, Twitter also
allows us to access what we need to know. Much of the reporting from the Arab Spring uprisings
was done directly through Twitter. Through all of this, brands are joining the network not only to
promote their messages, but also to quickly and succinctly address the needs of their customers.
How are people using Twitter?

Twitter has become a tool for everything from facilitating the collapse of governments to showing
off your new-born. Through Twitter, athletes have added side-line commentary and Hollywood has
dialled up the drama. Consumers use the service to share and find content. For many, Twitter has
replaced their RSS subscriptions and traditional news media.
Due to its mostly public nature, Twitter's most powerful use is connecting people. The platform
allows complete strangers to come together over common interests and ideas and to participate in
conversations that range from the relatively mundane to the incredibly important.
 Participate in relevant to the interests of your brand's customers. You'll find like-minded
people to help expand your network.
 Save searches for common interests or popular hash tags to find people talking about those
topics.
 Use tools like or to find like-minded users. Also look at who they interact with and get
engaged with those communities.
 Tools like and integrate with Outlook and Gmail to help you uncover social profiles of people
you already know.
 Twitter's experience can help you dive into different conversations. Also, check out Twitter,
which lets you browse the best accounts on a wide variety of topics.
Some users may choose to essentially live-tweet their day, while others limit their contributions
primarily to content sharing. Your goal is to identify what types of users you'll be looking for and
engaging with and gain an understanding of how and why they're using the tool. By understanding
their motivations behind using the site, you'll be better able to target your efforts and content in
meaningful ways.
Strategies and tactics for success
Your success on Twitter depends on your specific goals, of course, but there are some universally
applicable strategies that can start you off on the right track. By continually keeping these tactics in
mind, you can speed your progress toward your own goals.
Branding and voice: Being aware of who you are and who you aren't is critical on Twitter. You
only have 140 characters to communicate your thoughts, so every word matters. Your company's
brand and voice seeps into every interaction, passive or active, that you have here. As you grow, you
will naturally get a good sense of whom the idealized brand representative should be. How would
they talk? How would they respond to conflict? How would they joke around? Questions like this
may initially seem silly, but it's better to answer them ahead of time than to create answers based
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on your mood or the amount of sleep or coffee you've had in a given moment. Consistency of voice
is important, as people like to know what to expect in their interactions with you. Over time, this
consistency will help you build trust and confidence with your audience.
Also, ensuring your account name and profile are filled out according to your brand guidelines is
critical. Think of these fields as your "first impression." Many people will visit a Twitter profile only
once to decide whether or not they want to follow you. Your bio should be on-point, and your
handle branded and appropriate. Your location should accurately reflect where you are. Your
follower count may come into play here as well. Controlling your follower: following ratio can help
you further establish credibility, showing that you care enough to follow your community members
back.
Pro tip:
Utilize tracking and variables in all of your shared links. This will help you to better evaluate the
success that individual content pieces have. Look at the day and time your audience is most active,
the types of content they engage with most frequently, and the style and tone of your language.
From there you can better understand how to share and engage with your community.
Be interesting: There's nothing worse than boring tweets. "Boring" is understandably subjective,
but you should strive to be interesting to your target audience. Streams that constantly push
promotional messaging get old very fast. How do you establish brand loyalty when the only thing
you say is, "Here's 50% off [something]?" There must be more than that you can say about your
business, and if there's not, you may need a new lens with which to view your organization.
Add value: It's important to be consistently present, but not so loquacious that you tweet simply to
hear yourself speak. Every tweet you send should add value in some way. A good rule of thumb is to
ask yourself why you would want to see this information if you were a follower.
Responsiveness: Due to the condensed format and quick pace of Twitter, it's essential to respond
to your community as swiftly as possible. The platform makes it easy for people to find your brand,
and you're sure to get many customer service requests that need your immediate attention. If you
ignore a critical tweet for too long, you may find that one person's voice is soon amplified by their
followers. Also, don't just respond to emergencies or questions—make sure you also say hello and
respond to kudos given to your brand. As you grow, you'll have to figure out how scale, but too
much tweeting is a great problem to have.
Measurement: The beauty of Twitter is that data is plentiful; the tricky part is setting up those
measurement frameworks and dashboards so that they align as closely as possible with your
business objectives and goals. Data is what really influences your bottom line in social; it helps you
tell your own story and find both opportunities and successes
Etiquette tips and guidelines

Like any social interaction, Twitter has its own set of best-practices to follow in order to be
successful. Here are a few tips to get you started:
Don't spam: This should be a rule across all of your marketing efforts, but it bears repeating here.
There are many new accounts popping up with marketers behind them having the best intentions,
but no matter how you slice it, spam is spam. Jumping in on irrelevant hash tags to market your
product is unhelpful. Likewise, relentlessly mentioning every person in your feed to draw their
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attention to a piece of content or offer is typically received as annoying. Be sure to keep your tweets
relevant, helpful to followers, and spam free.
Direct messages: DMs are great when you need private information, like a shipping address.
Traditionally, you can only DM people who follow you and vice versa. If you have a verified account
through Twitter, you can select a special setting to allow anyone to DM you. However, you cannot
respond via DM unless the person DM'ing you follow you. Never send automated DMs as it's
considered spam. Do not, under any circumstance, send auto-DMs to your followers. Auto-messages
aren't engaging, and you aren't reaching out personally for relationship building. If you'd like to
reach out to every single person that decides to follow you, do so in a personalized and unique way.
@ replies: When you start a tweet with an @username, only people who are following both you
and @username will see your tweet. If you want more people to see it, just put a period or other
marker in front of the username. Or you can always just rephrase your sentence.
Hash tags: By using #hashtags, you're exposing yourself to a wider audience. Many people follow
conversations using various hashtags, but possibly won't be following you. Hashtags are meant as a
shortcut to explain what your tweet contains or to show you're part of a conversation or event. If
your brand's jumping into a hashtag, you should make sure that you're contributing value to the
conversation instead of just promoting your business.
Retweet (RT): There are two ways to RT, manually or through Twitter's native RT function. RT's a
great way to boost your community's members content, make them feel good, and say "you're
awesome!" If there's a link you want to track or a grammar/spelling issues you want to fix before
RT'ing, you can edit the tweet and post it as "RT @username: Puppies are cute!"
Scheduling updates: A variety of tools help people schedule out tweets. Scheduling updates is the
community manager's very best friend as you are not always online or otherwise available to update
Twitter when you need to. You create the tweet, set the time and date, select the account you want
to send it from, and schedule. Scheduling allows you to publish content when your community's
most active.
Make sure to watch your scheduled posts. Scheduling posts can be an incredibly useful tool that
allows you to scale your energy. However, pre-scheduled tweets can be detrimental in times of
crises, e.g. global disasters, national tragedies, etc. It's important to quickly turn any scheduled posts
off even if these crises are not directly related to your brand; global events can erupt, creating an
inhospitable environment for off-topic content. Worse yet, your posts may unintentionally become
the source of controversy during a crisis. For example, LiveNation went horribly wrong with Twitter,
during a horrific accident at a RadioHead concert, which they were liable for. Be sure to keep an eye
on your scheduled posts if you choose to do so.
Shortening links: Twitter now auto-shortens your links, but you should consider using a separate
shortening service with built-in analytics, as it will allow you to track clicks of your content that don't
point back to your own web properties. Bit.ly, Buffer, and Hoot Suite are all good options. Your may
even consider buy a customized shortened domain.
Twitter lists: Making lists of users can help your targeting efforts when you're trying to reach
industry influencers or join in conversations relative to your niche. If you're making a public list,
remember to be empathetic to people who aren't on it; it's best to stay away from lists that qualify
or rate people or their services. Making the lists private avoids this issue.
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Use Twitter handles: If you're talking about someone who's on Twitter, use their @username. It's
just polite, and your community wants to know when you're talking about them, as it's an easy ego
boost. This also encourages the people mentioned to share what you've posted or further engage
with your community.
Recommended tools:
HootSuite, Social Engage, and Sprout Social: These apps allow users to manage their Twitter
accounts more effectively. With varying degrees of control and functionality, you'll want to take a
look around and figure out what works best for your needs and your team. These tools all do
essentially the same thing: help you engage, measure that engagement, and interact with your
followers on Twitter in ways the web interface sometimes makes difficult.
Twitter for Business: Twitter's own one-stop shop for hitting the ground running with your
business. It's a great resource for those just getting started with the platform.
Simply Measured: This rich analytics tool allows you to measure follower growth, engagement,
reach, and even figure out who your influencers are.
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Google+
If you're like most of the Internet, you've probably delayed your investment in Google+ in hopes of a
sign that it's time to make a move. Consider this your sign.
Google's social endeavors, Google+, became the new kid on the playground in 2011. It initially
adopted many features from Facebook and Twitter, mixing in its own unique functionality like Circles
and Hangouts. The platform is a little different from other social networks, in that it acts as a social
layer across many of Google's own properties—including the display ad network—thus connecting
millions of sites. With nearly 67% of US search engine volume, Google is still the biggest player in the
search engine game. And, with Google+ posts passing link equity to other pages, building a presence
here is a better idea than ever.
So how many people actually use Google+? The latest numbers from Google, posted in October of
2013, show that there are about 300 million active monthly users who upload 1.5 billion photos
every week.
While exact numbers aren't available, reports commonly estimate the site's users as about 70% male
and 30% female. Circle Count reports the US as the biggest audience, followed by India and Brazil.
Perhaps most interestingly, by a large majority, those reporting a job role are students. The large
majority of the remaining tops are in either technology (developers, engineers, designers) or
photography. The secret here is really about determining if your audience is there, and at this point,
it's a safe bet it is.
How are people using Google+?
Google hasn't released much in the way of stats and information about how people are using the
network aside from raw usage data. G+ is anecdotally believed to be largely male and tech-driven,
which much of the available data seems to support. Early adopters are still the largest and most
active groups on G+.
Much of how users actually engage on the network is the same as on Twitter and Facebook.
However, because circles force categorization of people, Google+ is far more easily customizable and
allows a greater level of flexibility and dialled privacy. This would, in theory, allow users to enjoy the
network with more people in more relevant ways. For example, you could share content specific to
your professional network with people in that circle, while sharing the pictures of your kids to a
more private circle, all from the same platform. Another feature that seems to be growing in
popularity with users, marketers and brands alike is the Google+ Hangout. Hangouts can be public or
invite-only and allow users to connect with one another with voice and video without needing to
download any software. Google has also added communities, which appear to mirror Facebook's
groups, giving additional functionality and interaction opportunity to the site.
Finding success on Google+ will—at least for now—be largely dependent on your audience and
whether or not they have made the jump to this network. If they haven't, you'll need to either find a
way to relevantly target the users that are there with your content in hopes of leveraging the
benefits to your advantage, or you'll keep an eye on the network and test the waters here and there,
waiting until your audience arrives to dive in.
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The increasing functionality of the network is exciting. With the addition of Communities, it is easy
to see potential from a conversation and engagement perspective. As an added bonus, Google made
it so your community can be tied to your brand page.
Now the ability to add events through interactive posts to a brand page gives even more
functionality. You can invite users to an event and notify them directly; when they RSVP, it will
automatically be added to their calendar. Consider the impact here to both your online events and
even those held at brick-and-mortar locations. Extending your offline events to your online and
shareable audience could help net exponential reach (and ultimately attendance)!
Regardless of the platform, there are some universal truths to social media marketing for businesses
that will hold true on Google+ as well. It's important to spend time clearly identifying the objectives
you are trying to meet. Having these goals laid out will give you a way to measure your success,
making the rest of your effort far easier.
Brainstorm: Gather and invite brand and product influencers into a specialized "community"
where they are allowed and encouraged to have conversations with brand representatives. Use this
as a forum for troubleshooting, gathering feedback, and generally engaging with particular
influencers.
Promote Google+ pages in other platforms:

Leverage your other channels (social and otherwise) to increase visibility to your burgeoning page.
This increased visibility will help build the community there while also presenting an integrated
front.
Image sharing:
The G+ community responds well to imagery, particularly professional photography. Social is
a channel that rewards authenticity, though, so mix some more "home-grown" media in with the
highly-polished brand imagery.
Implement authorship and publisher:

Implement authorship and publisher: Implement publisher status for your brand and site and help
your blog authors with authorship. This will help establish authority and will add a personal touch to
content as Google SERPs will show author faces in results. Over time, this also allows the authors
increased visibility. Use this to your advantage and let them build their voice and audience. All of
these factors will increase the visibility and authority of your presence. Depending on the nuances of
your content's authorship, you'll want to make sure your content's properly marked up.
Format posts:
Use the * and _ and other operators in conjunction with paragraph spacing and post layout to call
attention to your content and make it more professional and appealing to your audience. And don't
forget to tag relevant people using "+" and their name.
Find and befriend tastemakers:

It is easy to find key influencers on G+. It's still a smallish community where it may be easier to get
the attention of and build relationships with influencers in your space. Tread lightly though; don't
spam and always be respectful.
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Inexperience doesn't have to be a drawback when you're building your circles. If you keep your
conduct classy, you'll have no trouble earning the respect of your audience. These tips will get you
started.
Add value: Create good stuff. While trite, it is true. Giving people something to get excited about
and a reason to want to follow you is the best way to grow your community. Google+ allows you to
target who gets to see your content if you wish, so use that tool to your advantage and get creative.
Can you create a special circle just for your top influencers and advocates? You betcha! The sky's the
limit!
Engage: If you're putting out quality content and giving people a reason and opportunity to engage
with you, you must be there to back-up that conversation. Be there to get involved, address
questions, and add to the conversation.
Respond: If a follower takes the time out of their day to ask a question, come to you for help, or
even just share something with your brand, it is simply the right thing to do to engage and respond
to them. Don't ever leave them hanging. The only thing worse than not being present in a
conversation is being around and ignoring half of it.
Frequency and scheduling: As with other platforms, timing is important with your posts on
Google+. It's a little easier here because of the built-in filtering that circles offer, but like other
networks, you'll need to figure out the optimal times and frequency for posting to your Google+
page. Currently, there is no way to pre-scheduled posts in Google+, except through a Chrome
extension called Do Share or third-party tools such as Sprout Social or Buffer. Do beware, though,
that not all third-party tools allow for formatting.
Don't spam: Google+ is no different with regard to spam. There are even unique ways to bother
people on Google+. For example, when "events" were introduced, there were waves of complaints
coming from users who had felt as though they had been spammed by those trying out the feature.
Users can share a post directly with groups of people sending them specific notifications of that post,
or even via email, as opposed to simply showing up in their feed, a feature susceptible to spam. The
"communities" feature attracts shameless spammers, too. These features must be used very
thoughtfully to avoid annoying your audience. As with all social networks, Google+ will surely adapt
to prevent some of these issues over time. In the meantime, avoid exploiting them for the sake of
reach. You will be sacrificing authority and the respect of your community.
+Name: If you want to call out another Google+ page or person, you can directly link to their
Google+ page (which notifies them that you're talking about them) by putting a + and then typing
their name. (Google+ will help you with a drop-down.) This is similar to the @ symbol in Twitter, and
helps make whom you're addressing clear to everyone. Definitely try to include author names when
you post blogs, so they can engage with commenters too.
Notifications: As a page manager, you'll see the infamous Google+ notification bell on the right
hand side of your screen. This will show you all of mentions of your brand on Google+, shared posts,
new circlers, or community invites. To keep track of which ones you've already paid attention to and
engaged with, you can x them out on by hovering on the right side of the individual notification box.
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Recommended tools:
CircleCount: If you're curious how the Google+ demographics align with that of your clients or brand,
this site can help. By analysing millions of profiles, they look at top influencers and show your posts
aggregated in a quick snapshot of how they're doing. Having already analysed over 23 million
profiles, they are working to become the number-one data source for Google+.
Google+ Ripples: From a marketer's perspective, this is probably one of the most exciting tools
available to us as a part of Google+. Ripples shows you just how your content is shared in an easy-to-
navigate manner. If you want to see who your influencers are and how they're impacting the
effectiveness of your content efforts, using this tool will put a giant smile on your face.
Google's Official Policy Guidelines: As with any social platform, you should be familiar with Google's
intentions behind the Google+ platform, including the company's own explanation of how to use it.
The policy guidelines from Google highlight actionable restrictions and also include features of the
site, resources for brand to get support, and information around custom URLs.
Simply Measured: The Swiss Army knife of social analytics tools also has measurement for
Google+, along with most of the other major players in social media.
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LinkedIn
The world's largest professional social network connects colleagues with each other and businesses
with current and potential employees, all while enabling community development and content
sharing. LinkedIn's potential lies in its power to build authority, establish thought leadership, and
cultivate a robust network. Join us for a peek behind the curtain to see if LinkedIn is a match for your
business
How are people using LinkedIn?
If you took your water cooler, networking event, business card holder, and Rolodex, smooshed them
together, and put that concoction up on a domain, you would approximate LinkedIn.
People build out their profiles to showcase their professional background and resumes. They are
able to connect with individuals they know or have worked with, leave each other
recommendations, and find new connections. LinkedIn can also be a great place to look for and find
a job, as it takes the utility of job boards and adds in the human connections that are so invaluable in
finding the right position.
For companies, especially recruiters, that is just the beginning. Business professionals have created
their profiles and gotten recommendations from co-workers, making it a solid fit for brands looking
to recruit new talent. LinkedIn allows hiring managers to search and filter candidates based on
multiple factors, and users can join groups based on professional interests.
Beyond recruiting efforts, LinkedIn is a great place for a variety of helpful social activities
to boost your business.
Business development:
LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for generating B2B leads, with nearly three times the conversion rate
of Facebook or Twitter. Your mileage may vary, but this certainly signals the platform is one that
comes with great opportunity. Some tips include:
1. Keep your company page up-to-date
2. Use the products and services spotlight
3. Solicit recommendations for your products
Establishing thought leadership:

Establishing yourself and your brand as an authority in your area of focus will help build authority
and trust among your customers, both current and prospective. LinkedIn's feature set can help
brands stay up-to-date on users' professional networks, in addition to establishing a business
presence and sharing company news.
 Add your blog's RSS feed to a widget that will automatically pull the feed in and showcase to
the company page followers.
 Groups are a great place to offer professional assistance and advice, although they are only
open to individuals, not to companies.
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Building customer advocates:

Be careful not to overdo self-promotion. Advocacy and word-of-mouth magic happen through
positive engagement. When brands engage customers and build strong relationships based on
respect and trust, customers will "like" the brand and perhaps even love it. LinkedIn makes it easy to
be both personal and specific. You know a lot about the person you're interacting with, so use that
information.
LinkedIn drives business value because it is based on a user's professional interests. This makes it an
obvious and natural fit for sharing brand-based updates, news, and info; as well as driving traffic to
company-focused websites.
Strategies and tactics for success:

Personal use :
Complete your personal profile thoroughly and honestly.
Find your connections and reach out. Every once in a while, pick someone you haven't talked to
recently and send them a note— without needing anything—just to say hi or share something
interesting that you think they'll enjoy.
Link to your profile from your blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter accounts to help people find your
profile. (In fact, if the content being shared is relevant, link back to those pages from your LinkedIn
profile.
Keep in mind, though, that those links might draw hiring managers to those associated pages.)
Participate in Groups. Your personal authority and trust can be boosted, leading to new
opportunities, leads, and connections. Note that this functionality is currently only available to
individuals.
As LinkedIn continues to become a place for people to share quality content, we will see more
engagement around that content. Be apart of that movement: Share your own content and share
high-quality content from others.
Business Use:
Complete your company page and ensure it is always up-to-date. If you change your structure or
have company news to share, be sure you're updating your company page on LinkedIn; this will
update in your followers' newsfeeds.
Make updating your LinkedIn page part of the compliance process when fundamental updates occur
at your company, as LinkedIn is often a source of truth for individuals doing research.
Make sure to respond to your posts, reviews, and questions. If a user leaves a product review, thank
them. If they have a complaint, address it. Answer questions and offer advice and assistance.
LinkedIn can be an amazing source of competitive intelligence for your business. Follow your
competitors' pages and watch for their news, updates, and employee changes. Certain exits and job
openings can provide insight into strategic direction.
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Connecting with professionals on social media involves a mindful and even graceful back-and forth;
it's all too easy to come across as insincere or even spammy. The best relationships are cultivated
through a natural and careful progression of communication. Pay attention to social cues, and you
can avoid the many things that might result in a complete social train wreck.
A business card is not an invitation to be annoying: We've all likely seen this happen: the
business card crop duster. The high-speed networker at an event circling the room like a Roomba
looking to collect and distribute as many business cards as they possibly can. LinkedIn requests are
immediately sent, likely without a personalized email, and invites are sent for a bunch of groups,
events, or even to download their eBook. Please don't be that person.
Cold mail: You might find someone on LinkedIn with whom you'd like to get in touch. If you do, use
a personalized approach and give context to the email you send. Let them know who you are and
why you would like to connect. (Your "why" should never be because you have something to sell.)
@responding: While LinkedIn has no smart user alerts, using the @name when responding to
comments on your Page or in Groups is a good practice to keep conversation flow coherent and
directed. However, LinkedIn did recently start doing an activity alert; instead of just emails, it now
tells people when conversations that they've been part of are updated.
Fix broken windows:

You want to make sure to clean any spam from your LinkedIn Groups. Members—especially those
who need new jobs or other types of promotion—sometimes have a problem telling spam and low-
quality postings from what you need to engage and grow your community. Be gentle and empathic,
but make sure to have rules for your group which you can cite when moderating comments.
Be genuine: In every interaction you have on LinkedIn, be yourself as much as you possibly can.
When connecting with someone else, avoid sending the standard "I'd like to add you to my
professional network on LinkedIn." Not only is it less likely to be accepted, you may even get marked
as spam, resulting in your inability to send future connection requests. Personalized interactions
make the other people feel like you actually value and care about them and take interest.
Recommendations:
LinkedIn recommendations can be an incredibly powerful thing, but should only ever be solicited
from people you know well and who know your work. The recommendation itself will be much
better for it. If you request one, feel free to tell the person you're approaching about a specific goal
you may have for the recommendation. You don't want to do this in a pushy way, but you may get a
more useful recommendation, and it can actually make their life easier as well since they'll have a
predetermined area of focus.
Sharing content: Not all your content needs to be shared on LinkedIn, as what you share here can
very easily reflect on your professional reputation or make you look self-absorbed. Avoid tools that
automatically transfer posts from other platforms. Above all, be conscious and aware of what you're
sharing, and try not to share too much—since connections are so important, LinkedIn is one place
where you really don't want to be hidden from people's feeds.
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Discussions: There are ways to view LinkedIn Group activity in "Discussions" under "Choose Your
View: Latest Discussions" and "What's Happening." "What's Happening" shows the discussions with
the most recent activity, so you can keep tabs on current conversations. "Latest Discussions" shows
the most
Recommended tools
Building a professional community can be a very different experience from business to business, so
finding the right features and functionality that works for you is an essential step to success. Here
are some of the more useful tools to help you customize your LinkedIn experience.
LinkedIn for Outlook: If you use Outlook, this tool brings your professional network right into
your mailbox. It also scans your Outlook contacts and finds new connections for you on LinkedIn.
Having this information in your inbox can help you better keep track and engage with your contacts.
Buffer: This app, which raced to its millionth user in less than three years, will help you schedule
posts and give basic click/reach analytics for all posts on your company page, in your groups, and in
any of your individual profiles.
TrueSocialMetrics: For the analysis enthusiasts, TrueSocialMetrics gives you a huge amount of
data about applause and engagement on your LinkedIn page.
LinkedIn Maps: Brought to you by LinkedIn Labs, this nifty tool lets you log-in with your LinkedIn
credentials and visualize your network over a map.
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YouTube and Pinterest

After its humble beginnings in 2005, YouTube has become more than just a place to watch cat
videos. Eight years later, YouTube has morphed into the world's second-largest search engine, a
driver of online culture, and a springboard for Internet fame. There’s still plenty of cat videos to go
around, but YouTube has its sights on bigger, better ideas.
Key stats and demographics
 YouTube sees over one billion unique visits each month.

 Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month
 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute
 Mobile devices account for more than 1 billion views each day
 According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
Thousands of YouTube channels are making six figures annually
How the network is being used by consumers
In a word, sharing. Content is being uploaded and shared through YouTube at record rates. Users
can follow channels (which have gotten more sophisticated in their design and functionality over the
years), upload their own content, comment on and discuss videos, and follow other users' content.
With the ability to link directly to or embed videos, YouTube has become a primary source of video
entertainment for users all over the web. Its ability to monetize through ads—both for itself and its
users—adds a layer of financial sustainability.
Engagement: The comments on YouTube are famous for being a bit of a wasteland. Many of them
are meaningless and often from trolls. Many brands shut off their comments for good reason. You
may opt to leave comments on, just to see what type of engagement you get, and that is okay too.
What is not recommended, though, is to leave them on and ignore them; either tend to the garden
or get rid of it altogether. And you can see powerful results by choosing to engage with your
audience.
In order to improve commenting on YouTube, YouTube comments are now directly tied to G+
accounts. As a business, you'll need to link your G+ brand page and your brand's YouTube account.
First, you need to make your YouTube account an administrator on your G+ page. Then make sure
you're logged into your YouTube account and then follow YouTube's connect instructions. After
everything's connected, alerts for new comments on your YouTube videos will appear in your G+
notifications, and your YouTube videos will show up in a tab on your G+ brand page
Content Strategy:
Help content and other how-tos: For some products, tutorials and how-tos are going to be
incredibly valuable. Help your audience learn how to better use your product, including ideas about
how to use your product in novel ways. Help them learn how to do things that may not be directly
related to your product, but are highly relevant to their interests.
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For example, a nail polish brand may occasionally highlight how-tos for special-event hair. This is
incredibly relevant to their audience, but not directly related to their product. This is a tactic we've
mentioned before: think horizontally.
Exclusive content: This can take the form of early access to new products, special channel specific
promotional deals, or even insider company news. Giving these limited audiences exclusive access to
different types of content will make them feel honoured and "in-the-know."
Also, creating channel-specific content will give each individual a reason to follow you on more than
one channel, increasing the depth of their relationship.
Incentivize participation: Have your community create content and share it on your behalf across
their networks. You then can curate based on hashtag or on a central repository (e.g. a blog post
holding YouTube content), or find some other way to help draw attention to and connect the user
stories. This activity can drive awareness of your presence and help engage the audience while
cutting down on the amount of work required of you.
Measurement: Just like your other marketing efforts, it is imperative that you know what success
looks like. Tailor your efforts (content, engagement, etc.) toward initiatives that help you move the
needle and prove your success by measuring progress against your identified goals
Etiquette tips and guidelines

Engage responsibly: If you have comments enabled on your videos, make sure you moderate
them and stay engaged, as YouTube is more prone than other platforms to generate spammy
comments. You'll want to make sure your channel continues to provide value. If you happen to find
yourself in the presence of trolls (and the sun isn't out to turn them to stone), remember to keep
your cool; you act on behalf of your brand in a public forum.
Comment wisely: Whether you have comments enabled on your videos or not, there are likely
going to be times when you’ll need (or want) to comment on other threads and videos. The standard
advice applies there, as well: don't yell at people, check your spelling and grammar, use your brand
voice, and definitely don't leave spammy comments yourself.
Advertise safely: This isn't a decision to take lightly. For high volume channels, it can be revenue-
producing, but that needs to be weighed against the brand impact and the customers' experience
with your content.
Favoriting and subscribing: If you favourite a video, it also shows up on your profile page as a
video you favourite, sharing it with your friends and subscribers. Subscribing to someone's channel
means that you'll see all of their latest uploads and favourites in the feed on your page. This
equivalent of following someone on Twitter.
Uploading videos: Luckily, YouTube takes about every video format under the sun. Uploading the
video is the easy part; filling out the information about the video is the real work. You want to make
sure that your description is SEO- and people-optimized, that your title and keywords are on target,
that your videos are properly categorized, and (if possible) that you provide a transcript of each
video. Every bit of relevant information you can add to your YouTube upload gives you more
opportunity for people to find your video and makes it accessible for all types of users and search
bots.
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Recommended tools
YouTube TestTube:
This works much like Gmail Labs. For those of you looking to stay up to- date on potential, new
YouTube features (or even just get access to some neat elements), you'll want to occasionally check
TestTube and see what they have to offer.
YouTube Analytics:
This offers the equivalent of Facebook Insights for your videos. You’ll find numbers on engagement,
discovery, and demographics.
YouTube Advertisers: This is a central hub where you can get an idea of what other brands are
doing for inspiration, and it's also a portal with a great deal of content about ad solutions.
YouTube Charts: A list of videos sorted based on most views, popularity, comments or other
criteria. Looking for content ideas? This is a great spot.
Pinterest:
Through beautiful images and easy-to-use "pinning," this website has taken the online community
by storm. Following its beta launch in 2010, Pinterest provided a way for users to simply share and
create image collections for hobbies, style, businesses, and more. Whether you’re a business owner
connecting with your users through images or simply trying to redecorate your home in DIY-fashion,
Pinterest has something for just about everyone
Key stats and demographics

 Pinterest has 20 million monthly active users (70 million registered users)
 More than 50 million unique visitors per month
 5 million "article pins" per day
 Women are 5 times as likely as men to use Pinterest
 Pinterest users in the US spend about an hour on the site each month
 Shoppers spend more on their purchases when referred from Pinterest— roughly twice as
much as referrals from Facebook and Twitter.
 Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit combined.
How are people using Pinterest?
Image-based sharing is becoming increasingly important for brands and consumers alike. The
effectiveness of imagery has led sites like Pinterest and Instagram to quickly become the new staples
in daily digital life. In a world where people don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of time reading,
rich media helps users share, communicate, and consume stories quickly and easily in meaningful
ways.
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Engagement: The Pinterest community is growing quickly and can be very engaged. This is a great
opportunity for your consumers to interact with you, so be sure to pay attention to your comments
for opportunities to have conversations. They may be asking questions or just offering words of
praise or concern. Using a tool like PinAlerts or Pinterest's analytics to monitor where and how your
content is shared can help you catch opportunities that don’t come directly to you.
Content Strategy:
Highlight customers: Highlight customers using your product, content they’ve created, or even their
stories. It will appeal to their natural desire to be acknowledged and included. This also helps them
feel like they’ve added value back to their community and instills a sense of ownership.
Behind the scenes: Give your audience a look behind the curtain by showcasing behind-the scenes
pictures. This increases the feeling of getting special limited content, and thereby, their affinity for
your brand.
Community relations: If your business is involved in community or charity activities, share that
with your audience. You may feel like this comes off as bragging, but it can be done in a humble and
selfless manner. Your customers follow you because they’re invested in you and what you’re doing,
and your efforts outside the office are an extension of that relationship. You might even get them
involved!
Know your audience: Know everything you can about your audience, and give them what they
want to see. Humour works particularly well on video, for example, and beautiful imagery of any
kind tends to work incredibly well on Pinterest. You might even try to get to know people by
spending time on the platform in your personal profiles. You can use that to get to know what works
there and how people share and communicate.
Discoverability: Set your site up to be shared socially on Pinterest. Make sure the social sharing
buttons on your content pages are easy to find and use. Directing people's attention to your
Pinterest page will also help them find your content and enable sharing in new ways. Also, don't
forget to implement appropriate tracking so you know how well these are working!

Give credit: Sharing other people's content is at the heart of Pinterest, so giving proper credit is of
the utmost importance. Ideally, everything is pinned from its original source, even if that means
digging a bit to find it. You want to provide the best user experience possible, and if you pin content
directly from a Google Image SERP, for example, users would be linked back to that SERP instead of
the page where the image originated.
Change captions: Repinning isn't like retweeting on Twitter. You'll want to be sure to update the
caption on a repinned pin to make it your own. It should represent you and your brand, and should
show relevance to your community. Don't forget to use target keywords that your audience searches
for so they can easily find your pins.
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Don’t flood: Pinning throughout the day is going to be a brand’s best bet, and there are tools to
help you schedule pins in advance. If you pin all of your content at once, you'll flood your followers'
streams, and it could annoy them enough to unfollow your brand.
Organize: Keep your boards organized, as people will follow them for specific content. A user who
subscribes to a "recipes" board doesn't want to see images of fancy cars or interesting furniture. If
you want to share new types of content, create new boards.
Group boards: Group boards allow more than one user to pin to a board. You can collaborate with
partner companies, your co-workers, and anyone else with whom you'd like to collaborate on
unique and interesting content. You'll definitely want to have a strategy and purpose behind a
shared board.
Secret boards: This is probably not a feature you'll use for your brand, but you can create boards
that are shared with a limited group of people and invite them to pin on them as well.
Verify your site: In order to have a verified account and have Pinterest Analytics for your site,
you'll need to verify your site. Pinterest's Analytics will show you statistics on how many pins have
been pinned from your site, what sort of traffic Pinterest drives to your site, and more.
Recommended tools:
Pinterest's Blog: They highlight a variety of users and brands and showcase interesting news.
Keeps an eye on this blog to stay on top of any changes and also as a source of inspiration from users
doing interesting things?
Postris: Helps you find the most popular boards, pins, and people on Pinterest.
Viraltag: A bulk scheduler for Pinterest helps you avoid overwhelming your audience and upload
several pins at a time. Viraltag also feature analytics and allows you to upload to multiple Pinterest
accounts.
Curalate: This tool helps you measure board and pin engagement, generate traffic, find advocates,
and more, depending on the pricing package. It also helps with Instagram.
PinAlerts: Basically Google Alerts for your website's content on Pinterest, among several other
measurement features.
Rich Pins: Pinterest has made it possible for your products to show up as more than just photos. By
prepping your site with the right meta tags, you can add rich content like prices and reviews to other
people’s pins of your content.
E-mail
Marketing
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Email Marketing:
Tips to Maximize Email Marketing Success:

Permission-based email marketing has a higher return on investment than unsolicited email, direct
mail, or traditional advertising and has revolutionized the way we do business. Backed by
measurable results, studies show email marketing is the marketing tool of choice for businesses
looking to attract, retain, and grow loyal customer bases. Businesses all around the world use email
marketing to:
• Boost sales
• Generate leads
• Strengthen relationships
• Increase website traffic
• Build brand loyalty
As the popularity of permission-based email marketing grows, so does the amount of email in every
inbox. Are you doing everything you can to make sure your emails are opened, read, and responded
to?
Know your Audience:
You could have the best message in the world, but without the right audience it means nothing.
1. Start by building a permission-based list.
2. In exchange for contact information, offer your customers something of value: a newsletter,
a free seminar, or more information about your products & services.
3. When gathering contact information, only ask for the information you really need. Asking
unnecessary questions annoys people and may keep them from signing up.
4. Be sure to include a way for people to unsubscribe in all your email campaigns. Unsolicited
email or spam can be damaging to your reputation.
5. Manage your contact lists so you can respond quickly and efficiently to requests for more
information or to unsubscribe.
6. Since email addresses can change frequently, keep your list current by carefully tracking the
number of bounce-backs or undeliverable emails after every campaign.
7. Be sure you have a clear and concise privacy policy that details how you will treat your
customers’ personal contact information. Include a link to it in every email you send.
8. Respect the terms of your privacy policy and never breach your customers’ trust.
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Craft your Message:
An interesting message that offers value is critical to the success of any email campaign.
9. See what others are doing. Take a few minutes and sign up for email newsletters from
competitors. Choose a few on your favourite hobby or a topic you’re interested in too.
10. When you get online newsletters from other companies, pay attention to what makes you
open some and delete others without reading.
11. Before you create the right message, develop a marketing strategy that addresses goals and
objectives.
12. Use email marketing to accomplish what email does best: increase revenue, generate leads,
strengthen customer relationships, increase website traffic, and build brand awareness.
13. Get the length right. A good rule of thumb is the more frequent your emails, the shorter
they should be. People will open a short "Tip of the Day", but almost no one wants to get
something longer on a daily basis.
14. Keep the message personal and casual. Think like a customer and write in a conversational
tone. People want to see a little humanity behind the corporate mask.
15. People respond best to messages written by one particular person at a company who they
can get to know over time. This is part of building relationships.
16. Personalize the ‘From’ part of your email and be clear who the email is from.
17. Avoid using ‘FREE’ in your subject line since it has been abused by spam marketers and
arouses suspicion.
18. Be honest in your subject line and make sure it reflects what’s inside. State a clear benefit
that makes the recipient open your message. Only messages that seem relevant and offer
value will be opened.
19. Choose a subject line that grabs your reader’s attention. Avoid vague content like "Our
September Newsletter." Instead, use an interesting topic or headline from the newsletter,
such as "Best Practices for Email Marketing" or "Inside: Exclusive Interview with Tiger
Woods!"
20. Encourage forwarding right in your subject line. The Association for Interactive Marketing
(AIM) always adds "Pls. Forward" to the ends of their newsletter subject lines and they
report it's more than doubled their circulation!
21. Personalize each message and watch response rates climb. At the very least, always include
the recipient’s name.
22. Write your messages so they appeal to customer interests and hobbies. Ask your customers
what they want to hear about: special offers, new services, etc.
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Choose the Right Format:
Once you have the right message, you need to present it in the right way.
23. HTML and Rich media messages that include audio, video, and animation generate high
response rates, but it’s still important to always have a text version for people who prefer or
can only receive text.
24. Always include a hyperlinked table of contents at the top of your message so people can
click or scroll right to the section of their choice. Usability studies show most people won't
look beyond the first screen if there's not something immediately interesting to them. Give
them a reason to scroll down!
25. Use bullet points and lots of white space for plain text messages.
26. Minimize the use of ALL CAPS and italics as they are hard to read.
27. To make it easy for readers to scan your message, keep columns of copy narrow.
28. Test your messages through a number of email accounts to make sure they look good in all
mainstream email clients.
29. Consider writing your message in the same format it will appear on your customers’ screens
so you can see what they will see. For text-based emails set your font to 10 point Courier
going 60 characters (five inches) across.
30. Unless your newsletter is unusually long, recipients will probably read it on their screen.
Your job is to make this as easy as possible. For headlines, use a larger, bold font that can be
scanned the quickly.
Look for Measurable Results:
Being able to measure your email marketing efforts is key. Measuring allows you to understand
what works and what doesn’t so you can improve each and every campaign.
31. Gathering results through trackable links and having access to real-time reports will help you
understand what works and what doesn't.
32. Test using different subject lines, copy, offers, and creative designs, etc. Use real-time
results to see which get the best response rates. Consider sending out an A/B test to two
sub-segments of your email list to see which is more successful. Refine, and then send the
more successful email to your larger email base for better results.
33. When running a series of email campaigns, tweak your message as soon as you understand
the results of your first campaign.
34. Above all, take the time to understand email as a marketing medium. Always analyse results
and think of new ways to provide value to your members and customers.
Mobile
Search
Engine
Optimization
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Mobile SEO:
Let's make sure your site shows up in search results. In these sections, learn to configure your site
for multiple devices, help search engines understand your configuration, and avoid common
mistakes along the way.
Choose your mobile configuration

First, learn what it means to go mobile and do it using one of three configuration methods.
1. Understand different devices

2. Understand key points in going mobile
3. Select your mobile configuration
4. Frequently asked questions
Understand different devices:

1. Mobile: In this document, “mobile” or “mobile devices” refers to smartphones, such as
devices running Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone. Mobile browsers are similar to desktop
browsers in that they can render a broad set of the HTML5 specification, although their
screen size is smaller and in almost all cases their default orientation is vertical.
2. Tablets: We consider tablets as devices in their own class, so when we speak of mobile
devices, we generally do not include tablets in the definition. Tablets tend to have larger
screens, which mean that, unless you offer tablet-optimized content, you can assume that
users expect to see your site as it would look on a desktop browser rather than on a
smartphone browser.
3. Multimedia phones: These are phones with browsers that are able to render pages coded to
meet XHTML standards, support HTML5 Mark-up, JavaScript/ECMAscript but might not
support some of the extension APIs in the HTML5 standard. This generally describes the
browser in most 3G-ready phones that are not smartphones.
4. Feature phones: On these phones, browsers lack the capability to render normal desktop
webpages coded using standard HTML. This includes browsers that render only cHTML
(iMode), WML, XHTML-MP, etc.
Note: Our recommendations are geared toward smartphones, but we encourage multimedia and
feature phones site owners to follow the same advice where they feel appropriate.
2. Understand key points in going mobile:
No matter which configuration you choose, take note of these key points.
1. Signal to Google when a page is formatted for mobile (or has an equivalent page that’s
formatted for mobile). This helps Google accurately serve mobile searchers your content in
search results. More information in Signal your mobile configuration to Google Search.
2. Keep resources crawlable. Do not use robots.txt to block search engines from accessing
critical files on your site that help render the page (including ads). If Googlebot doesn’t have
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access to a page’s resources, such as CSS, JavaScript, or images, we may not detect that it’s
built to display and work well on a mobile browser. In other words, we may not detect that
the page is “mobile-friendly,” and therefore not properly serve it to mobile searchers.
3. Avoid common mistakes that frustrate mobile visitors, such as featuring unplayable videos
(e.g., Flash video as the page’s significant content). Mobile pages that provide a poor
searcher experience can be demoted in rankings or displayed with a warning in mobile
search results. More information in Common mistakes section.
Select your mobile configuration:

Google recognizes three different configurations for building mobile sites.
Here’s a chart comparing the three methods:
Configuration Does my URL stay the same? Does my HTML stay the same?
Responsive Web Design Yes Yes
Dynamic Serving Yes No
Separate URLs No No
1. Responsive web design: Serves the same HTML code on the same URL regardless of the
users’ device (desktop, tablet, mobile, non-visual browser), but can render the display
differently (i.e., “respond”) based on the screen size. Responsive design is Google’s
recommended design pattern.
2. Dynamic serving: Uses the same URL regardless of device, but generates a different version
of HTML for different device types based on what the server knows about the user’s
browser.
3. Separate URLs: Serves different code to each device, and on separate URLs. This
configuration tries to detect the users’ device, then redirects to the appropriate page using
HTTP redirects] along with the Vary HTTP header.
Google does not favor any particular URL format as long as the page(s) and all page assets are
accessible to all Googlebot user-agents.
Frequently asked questions:

1. I have a separate mobile website on m.example.com, while my desktop site is at
www.example.com. What should I do with mobile pages on m.example.com that don’t
have an equivalent desktop page on www.example.com?
 It’s fine to have a mobile-only page without a desktop equivalent (just make sure these
pages don’t include a rel=”canonical” to a non-corresponding desktop version). Please be
aware that mobile-only pages will need to build a reputation on their own (i.e., contain
unique content, be well-linked from other pages on your site or the web) because they will
not receive shared indexing signals from an existing desktop version of the page.
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2. Is it okay if I have some pages using responsive design and others using dynamic serving?
 Yes, it’s fine to use more than one configuration for your site. Just check that on a page-level
basis, each provides the right indications to search engines (e.g., the responsive page has the
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {...} information and the dynamic serving page
uses the Vary: HTTP header). Or, if you’re using a hybrid of responsive design (e.g.,
responsive but with images dynamically served), we still consider that responsive since the
page is nearly the same – keep the markup @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {...}
and forego the Vary HTTP header if it’s included specifically for Google. If you’re using
responsive images, include the <picture> element.
3. I have both a mobile website and a native app. Any advice?

 Yes, first, build your mobile website and native apps with “deep linking capability” or URIs
that provide pointers to specific areas of content (vs. a Flash ball that’s only accessible from
the start screen). Deep links and URIs provide more acquisition possibilities for your business
through Search or social sharing. Second, see App Indexing for Google Search for more
information on driving more traffic to your native app from Google Search.
With App Indexing for Google Search, native app "pages" are potentially accessible to
searchers.
Signal your configuration to search engines

Make sure search engines like Google can understand your mobile site setup.
1. Responsive Web Design:
2. Dynamic Serving
3. Separate URLs
1. Responsive Web Design:
Responsive web design (RWD) is a setup where the server always sends the same HTML
code to all devices and CSS is used to alter the rendering of the page on the device.
Google’s algorithms should be able to automatically detect this setup if all Googlebot user
agents are allowed to crawl the page and its assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images).
Responsive design serves all devices with the same code that adjusts for screen size.
To signal to browsers that your page will adapt to all devices, add a meta tag to the head of
the document:
<Meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
The meta viewport tag gives the browser instructions on how to adjust the dimensions and
scaling of the page to the width of the device. When the meta viewport element is absent,
mobile browsers default to rendering the page at a desktop screen width (usually about
980px, though this varies across devices). Mobile browsers then try to make the content
look better by increasing font sizes and either scaling the content to fit the screen or
showing only the part of the content that fits within the screen.
For users, this means that font sizes may have an inconsistent appearance, and users may
have to double-tap or pinch-to-zoom in order to be able to see and interact with the
content. For Google, we might not judge a page as mobile-friendly because it requires this
kind (or type) of interaction on a mobile device.
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On the left is a page without a meta viewport specified — the mobile browser therefore
assumes desktop width and scales the page to fit the screen, making the content hard to
read. On the right is the same page with a viewport specified that matches the device width
— the mobile browser doesn't scale the page and the content is readable.
For responsive images, include the <picture> element.
As a general rule, if your site works in a recent browser such as Google Chrome or Apple
Mobile Safari, it would work with our algorithms.
Why responsive design:

We recommend using responsive web design because it:
1. Makes it easier for users to share and link to your content with a single URL.
2. Helps Google’s algorithms accurately assign indexing properties to the page rather than
needing to signal the existence of corresponding desktop/mobile pages.
3. Requires less engineering time to maintain multiple pages for the same content.
4. Reduces the possibility of the common mistakes that affect mobile sites.
5. Requires no redirection for users to have a device-optimized view, which reduces load time.
Also, user agent-based redirection is error-prone and can degrade your site’s user
experience (see “Pitfalls when detecting user agents” section for details).
6. Saves resources when Googlebot crawls your site. For responsive web design pages, a single
Googlebot user agent only needs to crawl your page once, rather than crawling multiple
times with different Googlebot user agents to retrieve all versions of the content. This
improvement in crawling efficiency can indirectly help Google index more of your site’s
content and keep it appropriately fresh.
Remember:
Be sure not to block the crawling of any page assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images) for any
Googlebot using robots.txt or other methods. Being able to fully access these external files
will help our algorithms detect your site's responsive web design configuration and treat it
appropriately.
2. Dynamic Serving:
Dynamic serving is a setup where the server responds with different HTML (and CSS) on the same
URL depending on the user agent requesting the page.
As it is not immediately apparent in this setup that the site alters the HTML for mobile user agents
(the mobile content is “hidden” when crawled with a desktop user agent), we recommend that the
server send a hint to request that Googlebot for smartphones also crawl the page, and thus discover
the mobile content. This hint is implemented using the Vary HTTP header.
The Vary HTTP header:

The Vary HTTP header has two important and useful implications:
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It signals to caching servers used in ISPs and elsewhere that they should consider the user agent
when deciding whether to serve the page from cache or not. Without the Vary HTTP header, a cache
may mistakenly serve mobile users the cache of the desktop HTML page or vice versa.
It helps Googlebot discover your mobile-optimized content faster, as a valid Vary HTTP header is
one of the signals we may use to crawl URLs that serve mobile-optimized content.
The Vary HTTP header is part of the server’s response to a request, like this:
GET /page-1 HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
(...rest of HTTP request headers...)
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
Vary: User-Agent
Content-Length: 5710
(... rest of HTTP response headers...)
The Vary header tells the browser that the contents of the response will vary depending on the user
agent that requests the page. If your server already uses the Vary HTTP header, you can add “User-
Agent” to the list that’s already served.
3. Separate URLs:
In this configuration, each desktop URL has an equivalent different URL serving mobile-optimized
content.
A common setup would be pages on www.example.com serving desktop users with corresponding
pages served on m.example.com for mobile users. Google does not favor any particular URL format
as long as they are all accessible for all Googlebot user-agents.
Annotations for desktop and mobile URLs:

To help our algorithms understand separate mobile URLs, we recommend using the following
annotations:
1. On the desktop page, add a special link rel=”alternate” tag pointing to the corresponding mobile
URL. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site’s mobile pages.
2. On the mobile page, add a link rel=”canonical” tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.
We support two methods to have this annotation: in the HTML of the pages themselves and in
sitemaps. For example, suppose that the desktop URL is http://example.com/page-1 and the
corresponding mobile URL is http://m.example.com/page-1. The annotations in this example would
be as follows:
Annotation in the HTML:

On the desktop page (http://www.example.com/page-1), add:
<link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)"
href="http://m.example.com/page-1" >
and on the mobile page (http://m.example.com/page-1), the required annotation should be:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/page-1" >
This rel=”canonical” tag on the mobile URL pointing to the desktop page is required.
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Avoid common mistakes:

Avoid common mistakes we often see on mobile websites.
1. Blocked JavaScript, CSS and image files:

2. Unplayable content
3. Faulty redirects
4. Mobile-only 404s
5. App download interstitials
6. Irrelevant cross-links
7. Slow mobile pages
1. Blocked JavaScript, CSS and image files:
For optimal rendering and indexing, always allow Googlebot access to the JavaScript, CSS,
and image files used by your website so that Googlebot can see your site like an average
user. If your site’s robots.txt file disallows crawling of these assets, it directly harms how well
our algorithms render and index your content. This can result in suboptimal rankings.
Recommended actions:
 Make sure that Googlebot can crawl your JavaScript, CSS and image files by using
the “Fetch as Google” feature in Google Webmaster Tools. It will allow you to see
exactly how Googlebot sees and renders your content, and it will help you identify
and fix a number of indexing issues on your site.
 Check and test your robots.txt in Google Webmaster Tools.
 Test your mobile pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test to see if our systems detect
your website as compatible for mobile users.
 If you use separate URLs for your mobile pages, make sure to test both the mobile
and the desktop URLs, so you can confirm that the redirect is recognized and
crawlable.
2. Unplayable content:
Some types of videos or content are not playable on mobile devices, such as license-
constrained media or experiences that require Flash or other players that are not broadly
supported on mobile devices. Unplayable content, when featured on a page of any website
can be very frustrating for users.
When users visit a page with content not supported on a mobile device, they will see an
error message similar to the one below:
This provides users with a poor mobile experience!
Instead of using a proprietary video player or putting content in unsupported formats, we

recommend using HTML5 standard tags to include videos or animations.
For animated content rendered using Flash or other multimedia players, consider using
HTML5 animations that work across all web browsers. Google Web Designer makes it easy
to create these animations in HTML5.
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 Use HTML5 standards for animations to provide a good experience to all your users.
 Use video-embedding that’s playable on all devices.
 Consider having the transcript of the video available. This will make your site accessible to
people who use assistive browsing technologies or who have browsers that cannot play a
proprietary video format.
For more details, read about video best practices on Google’s Web Fundamentals.
3. Faulty redirects:
If you have separate mobile URLs, you must redirect mobile users on each desktop URL to
the appropriate mobile URL. Redirecting to other pages (such as always to the homepage)
would be incorrect.
Examples:
Your desktop site’s server is configured to redirect mobile users to the mobile site’s homepage,
regardless of which URL they originally requested, even if the mobile site has the equivalent page
to the redirecting desktop page.
 Your desktop site’s URLs are dynamically generated with URL parameters that don’t map
well to the equivalent mobile URL. For example, a user who is looking for a train timetable
on a specific date on the desktop site will be frustrated if they are redirected to the general
timetable search page on the mobile site. We recommend that you configure the redirection
correctly if you do have an equivalent mobile URL so that users end up on the page they
were looking for.
 Your desktop site redirects some mobile devices but not others. For example, a site may
redirect only Android users to the mobile site and not redirect iPhone or Windows Phone
users.
 Use Webmaster Tools. If you’re a verified user, we’ll send you a message if we detect that
any of your site’s pages are redirecting smartphone users to the homepage. We’ll also show
you any faulty redirects we detect in the Smartphone Crawl Errors section of Webmaster
Tools. Use the example URLs we provide in Webmaster Tools as a starting point to debug
exactly where the problem is with your server configuration.
 Set up your server so that it redirects smartphone users to the equivalent URL on your
smartphone site.
 If a page on your site doesn’t have a smartphone equivalent, keep users on the desktop
page, rather than redirecting them to the smartphone site’s homepage. Doing nothing is
better than doing something wrong in this case.
 Try using responsive web design, which serves the same content for desktop and
smartphone users.
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4. Mobile-only 404s:
Some sites serve content to desktop users accessing a URL but show an error page to mobile
users.
To ensure the best user experience, if you recognize a user is visiting a desktop page from a
mobile device and you have an equivalent mobile page at a different URL, redirect them to
that URL instead of serving a 404 or a soft 404 page. Also make sure that the mobile-friendly
page itself is not an error page.
 Use Webmaster Tools. If you’re a verified user for the site, we’ll send you a notification in
the Message Center.
 If you have a smartphone site on a separate URL, set up your server so that it redirects
smartphone users to the equivalent URL on your smartphone site.
 If you use Dynamic serving, Ensure your user-agent detection is correctly configured.
 If a page on your site doesn’t have a smartphone equivalent, keep users on the desktop
page. Showing the content the user was looking for is a much better experience than
showing an error page.
 Use responsive web design when possible. This configuration allows you to serve the same
content to users, whatever the device they use.
 Check the Crawl Errors report in Webmaster Tools; the Smartphone tab will show a list of
detected URLs that return smartphone-only 404 errors.
5. App download interstitials:
Many webmasters promote their business’ native apps to their mobile website visitors. If
not done with care, this can cause indexing issues, and disrupt the visitor’s usage of the site.
 Use a simple banner to promote your app in line with the page’s content. This banner can be
implemented using:
 The native browser and operating system support such as Smart App Banners for Safari.
 An HTML banner or image, similar to a typical small advert, that links to the correct app
store for download.
6. Irrelevant cross-links:
A common practice when a website serves users on separate mobile URLs is to have links to
the desktop-optimized version, and likewise a link from the desktop page to the mobile
page. A common error is to have links point to an irrelevant page such as having the mobile
pages link to the desktop site’s homepage.
Recommended action:
Check your links to make sure that they point to the correct equivalent page.
261
7. Slow mobile pages:
It is very important to make sure your mobile site loads quickly. Users can become very
frustrated if they have to wait a long time to see your content.
Recommended action:
Use Google Page Speed Insights to discover if your page has any issues that can slow your
pages down, focusing on the “Speed” sub-section. Try to address the issues marked as
“Should Fix.”

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Digital

1. Search Engines and Basics

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3. Advanced SEO Course Content

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SEARCH ENGINES AND ITS BASICS

List of Major Search Engines

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What is Keyword Density?

Keywords Research and Analysis

Google Sandbox effect

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A hyperlink to a page counts as a vote of support.

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Meta Title Tag

Meta Title Tag:

Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name

Optimal Length for Search Engines

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Meta Description Tag:

Alt Text (Alternative Text):

What is image alt text?

<img src="baby-crying.jpg" alt="Baby Crying" />

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What do I mean by bounce rate?

Creating /uploading robots file:

 By using robots.txt, webmasters can indicate to search engines which areas of a

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e.g. - Bank-Login id, password etc

 File name should be Robot.txt

 The following commands are available:

Sitemap- Indicates the location of a website’s sitemap or sitemaps.

Creating /uploading XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) file:

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Benefits of XML sitemaps to search-optimize Flash sites

XML sitemap example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

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Steps to generate XML site map generator:

Html site-map is overall view of your pages of your websites.

Creating /uploading Google webmaster/analytics code:

To verify that you own a site, you have a number of options:

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Why Install Google Analytics?

Access Your Google Analytics Tracking Code

Add Tracking Code in the Right Place

With your tracking code in hand, you’re ready to install!

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And we’re off to the (Tracking) Races!

If the status is ‘Tracking Not Installed’ or ‘Not Verified,’ follow Google’s

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URL renaming and re-writing

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What is 404 error and redirection:-

301 Error and redirection:-

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302 Error and redirection

 A 302 status code means Found, or more commonly referred to as “temporarily

 A good example of when to do a 302 redirect would be in an e-commerce setting.

301 Redirection 302 Redirection

Permanent Redirection Temporary Redirection

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 Once a website is completely developed these pages have to be connected to the

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